


Mass Effect 3: The Clone Wars

by RSC1995



Series: The Life of Erik Winston [3]
Category: Mass Effect, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-12
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-01-24 11:51:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1604135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RSC1995/pseuds/RSC1995
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the sabotage of the Jedi Temple and her trial Ahsoka wanted to get as far away from Triple Zero as possible. As a newly knighted jedi she was put in command of the Task Force assigned to hunt down an organization named Cerberus. On their way they meet the Separd twins and are pulled into another divided galaxy at war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Mars Archive

**Author's Note:**

> Star Wars belongs to Disney and Mass Effect to BioWare  
> I only own the UST forces and the other OCs
> 
> This cross-over is the sequel to my fanfic “Star Wars The Clone Wars Special operation Forces".  
> To sum up: After the happenings of Season 5 Ahsoka was promoted to a jedi knight and was send with a task force to destroy the organization Cerberus which attacked the 327th on Felucia.  
> Task Force Cobra consists of multiple factions:  
> The Republic: 3 Venator-Cruisers and 3 Consular-ships under the command of Admiral Yularen and Captain Antilles  
> The 501st and the 327th with Ahsoka Tano/Rex and Aayla Secura/Bly and Ventress  
> The UST: The battleships NRW and Red Montana under the command of Admiral Lambach and Catherine Pierce. The 13th Platoon under Lt. Erik Winston  
> The Cur'val-Dar/ Mandalorians: Commando group “Nightowls” under Bo-Katan
> 
> At the same time of this fanfic RotS takes places just missing the Felucian scene.
> 
> Notice that while this only covers Mass Effect 3 there will be hints to the other games.

**The Mars Archive**

 

John Shepard checked his armor. The infiltrator cloak was working and his engineering gear was where it should be. He wasn't as gifted as his sister Jane but he was good enough to be an Operative. Jane Shepard shook her long blue hair out as she flared her biotics. She was primary a Nemesis. Her biotics were the strongest ever encountered in the alliance navy. Different to her brother she wasn't born on a spaceship, isolated from the radiation. She was born on a colony, days before the radiation was noticed. Both had fought against the Saren invasion and the harbinger. During Virmire they had split up to save their comrades: Kaidan Alenko and Ashley Williams.

They had fought the collectors together and died together. Cerberus had resurrected both of them and send them against the reapers. Now earth was under attack and they were sent to get help. But Hackett had rerouted them to the Mars Archive to get some valuable information.

After discovering the first carcasses they spotted a group of Cerberus soldiers around the corner. Observing them they gasped as the Cerberus soldiers executed the marine. Before Jane could give the order to attack blue bolts flew from a higher ridge and killed the group. Looking for the origin they spotted more soldiers sliding down the hill while keeping firing at Cerberus. Apart from the colors they were all clad in nearly identical armor. Within seconds the newcomers cleared the area of Cerberus. As the marines approached the group one turned around to them.

“Stop right there! Who are you?” A girl asked. She stepped past her group and faced the humans.

“Commander Jane Shepard, Alliance Navy. This is my brother Commander John Shepard. These are Major Kaidan Alenko, Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams and Lieutenant James Vega.”

“General Ahsoka Tano of the Galactic Republic. These are Captain Rex, Lieutenants Echo and Fives. He is First Lieutenant Erik Winston from the United States of Terra.”

During the introductions Jane led the group into the freight elevator. While it ascended She and Kaidan had a talk as well as Ashley and John. Both weren't sure if Cerberus had changed the Shepard twins.

The clones observed the station. Gun shots were heard. The three of them automatically aimed at the source. A blue alien jumped down from a ventilation shaft.

Jane recognized her long time friend Liara and stopped the clone troopers. “She's a friend.”

While Liara told her friends about her discovery in the prothean archives Rex noticed something off on his scopes. He called Echo and Fives over. Just then Cerberus Operatives cut through the door. The clones immediately opened fire on them. Alerted by that Erik switched his rifle setting to sniper mode and began helping them from across the room. As fast as the assault began it ended again.

Commander Shepard was quick with his orders. “Vega, go out to the shuttle. We need some one to keep an eye out there. Ashley I need your sniping skills out there.”

“Got it, Sir.” Ashley replied before James could protest.

Fives looked to his captain before stepping forward. “You shuttle is no more. Cerberus attacked us and used it for cover. Our gunship blasted it. I can take you to our larty. If you need fire support, we have it.” Jane nodded. Better than nothing. “You two heard him. Move it.”

Fives called Hawk. As he and the two marines left the station the gunship hovered in front of them.

They filed into the cargo bay and the doors shut. Leaving the smaller openings open for the snipers Hawk began circling around the station. Overflying a construction site he spotted the team climbing across some catwalks before entering a lock.

 

John switched his flashlight on. “They were still in here when the lock opened.”  
“I worked with most of them. Steffani here was about to tell her husband Marc about the child she expected.” Liara said sadly.

“Stop. I sense something behind that wall.” Ahsoka said.

“Lights off.” Echo whispered. He switched over to the private comms. “Full Squad behind the windows. Keep the lights off and pick your targets. Sync-Shot.” Erik instructed.

Lights swept over them but they weren't spotted behind the tables. “FIRE!” Rex shouted as they opened fire on the Cerberus-soldiers. Both Jane and Kaidan used a Shockwave to throw the remaining soldiers off their feet. As they entered John began to open the console to check the environmental control while Liara opened the Camera Log.

They were shocked as the doctor Eva Coré was revealed as the infiltrator who shot the marines.

“I knew something was off about her but I didn't think that it was this bad.” Liara said.

Jane reassured her. “With the reaper invasion you surely had your mind somewhere else. At least I would have.”

Finally John managed to bypass the new firewall Cerberus installed and shut the doors. Air flowed into the room again as it was sealed from the outside. Continuing to the Archive they were met by more Cerberus-soldiers. Erik switched to sniper mode and fired at them. His shots hit them through the slits in the shields of the Cerberus-Guardians. Echo primed a grenade before he threw it among the group. The explosion threw Cerberus around and pulverized the one who stepped on the thermal detonator. Jane used a pull on the last Guardian and charged him with her biotic powers before killing him and his back up with a nova. Kaidan used the Reave on the remaining Centurion.

Keeping the pace they regrouped at a locked bulkhead.

As John unlocked it they were met by enemy fire. Ahsoka ignited her lightswords and blocked the shots. Rex pulled her into cover as the turret targeted her. The bullets bounced off the armor but they had still enough force to give him some bruises. Using the cover of the pillars along the wall the troopers moved forward.

Echo analyzed the turret. “Sir, I might be able to deactivate it.” Rex nodded. “Do it, Echo.”

The ARC cocked an EMP-Grenade. As he threw it it flew directly below the turret. As soon as it touched the weapon it exploded. It effectively shut down the system, clearing their way to the main station.

 

Fives watched his brothers using the tram. In the middle something exploded.

“Captain! Are you alright?”

“We're good. Explosion took out the drive. Need a ride out here.” Rex replied. Fives was glad his CO was still among the living. A second cable cab came from the archive. He lifted his sniper rifle. Next to him Ashley fired her Black Window sniper rifle. Their shots cut through the glass protecting the rail and hit the first Cerberus troopers. Continuing to fire they cleared the tram.

“Thanks for the assist.” Jane radioed in. “All part of the service, Commander.” Ashley replied. As the commando team continued Tracker, the gunship's copilot spotted something on his radar. “There's a shuttle.” “That's Cerberus.” James said as he saw the shuttle, too.

The clone pilot immediately targeted the vessel. “Target locked. Missiles away.” Two air-to-air missiles detached from the wings and homed in on the shuttle. Who ever the pilot was didn't expect resistance and the gunship had was nearly invisible against the bright reflections on the station. The gunship exploded in a great fireball.

Hawk radioed Admiral Yularen. “Admiral. We have made contact with a Cerberus Extraction Team. Advise a check for Cerberus Mothership in orbit.”

“Message received.” Yularen immediately contacted Bo-Katan.

“We have Cerberus on scene. Scan the orbit and capture their ship if possible. Otherwise destroy it.”

“My girls are on their way, Admiral.”

Bo-Katan cut the line. The ships detached from the Red Montana and began to surround the orbit. Soon they spotted the Cerberus-cruiser. “Admiral, We begin the boarding process now.”

The mandalorians opened the locks and used their jetpacks to cross the remaining distance. Landing on the hull they checked the bridge. Placing small bombs on the view screen they prepared to storm the bridge. The explosion shattered the glass. The sudden decompression sucked Cerberus out of the room. The ones who survived the vacuum were killed by the mandos. Bo pulled herself in as she ordered her hacker to extract all the data from the ship while her unit secured the bridge.

Planet side Echo and Rex chased after Dr. Eva Coré. Jane was in front of them. She used her biotic charge to get close but then had to dodge tech-attacks.

“She's getting away!” John shouted. Just as they climbed up a ladder they saw Eva standing there. Apparently she had not expected to be facing a LAAT/i. Hawk opened fire with the main cannons. The lasers cut through the metal as the human disguise was torn away from the robot.

“Reaper Signatures in the orbit!” Joker called through. Jane turned towards Ahsoka.

“Better come with us.”

 

Yularen recalled the mandalorian commando team. His navigator calculated a quick micro jump and programmed it into all ships of the fleet. There was no time to recall all fighters. Luckily the ARC-170s had their own hyperdrive so they could perform the jump on their own to reach a saver place for the landing.

“Good luck, Knight Tano.” Aayla said before she ordered the jump.

 

The larty landed in the Normandy's bay. It barely fit in with all the equipment lying around.

They hurried to bring Kaidan into the medbay. The android had beaten him roughly when he confronted it. It didn't help that he had the old L2-implants in him.

“We have to get him to the Citadel.” Jane nodded. “Relay the coordinates to our friends' fleet.”

“I don't know their channel.” “Ask them.”

In the meantime John was talking to Admiral Hackett “Sir, we found this plan. EDI is still anayzing what is left of the robot. Our new allies don't leave things halve done.”

“Do we know where they came from?”

“I don't know but I am sure that we have a common enemy in Cerberus.” John said.

“I trust your judgement, Commander. Their technology could help us win this war.”

 

Task Force Cobra left the hyperspace. The ships were near a station called the Citadel. Instead of docking the ships remained in distance. It was decided that Ahsoka and her commando team would represent the Republic.

 

Arriving at dock D24 the medics of the nearby Huerta-hospital took Major Alenko with them.

“Captain Bailey, nice to see you again.” John left his sister to greet the man as he spotted a reporter talking to one of his ensigns.

“Ensign Copeland, brief me on this.”

“Commander Shepard. This woman is Diana Allers. She belongs to Battlespace and askes for permission to come on board.”

“Well, Ms. Allers...”

 

Jane decided to look after Kaidan first while John would deal with the council. When she entered the reception she was surprised to meet Thane. After a short chat she wished him good luck in recovering. A few steps further she met the second surprise. “Karin?” “Jane. I am glad to see you save and sound. I was worried when I heard of the attacks.”

 

John was annoyed with the council. Instead of keeping the group together they had decided to drop humanity and protect themselves.

As soon as the point about the crucible was off the table they had a great interest in the newcomers.

“So from Commander Shepards report we know that you are new to this galaxy. Who are you?”

Ahsoka began the introductions: “I'm Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano from the Galactic Republic. This are my men Captain Rex and his ARC-Lieutenants Echo and Fives from the 501st Legion.”

“I'm Lieutenant First Class Erik Winston, commanding officer of the 13th Legion of the UST Army Rangers.” Erik continued. Opening the holographinc transmission he introduced the others.

“This is Jedi Master Aayla Secura and her adjutant Commander Bly of the 327th Star Corps. These are Admiral Wulff Yularen and Captain Deara Antilles from the Republic Navy. This is Bo-Katan. Leader of the Nightowl commando squad.”

 

Jane had a long talk with Kaidan. They settled their relation and enjoyed the wine she got for them.

She was proud of her fiancé when he accepted the new spectre status. Ashley received one, too but she would be told afterwards.

After she left she went to the council room. Entering she listened to the new plan: Task Force Cobra would split up to provide assistance. The Republic cruisers would form the main fleet Kaidan would also be transferred to them as a liaison officer. This team would be commanded by General Secura and the 327th. The Acclamators would stay behind the frontlines and evacuate planets before the reapers could get them. James would go with the UST and the Nightowls to operate from the second fleet consisting of the UST forces and Ventress as a commando team against Cerberus. She and John would do the political work on board the Normandy. General Tano, Lieutenant Winston and the 501st would join them. After the council meeting she left John to talk with Udina. She went to the C-SEC-office next door and talked with Bailey. Ahsoka noticed the enraged reporter who left. Sensing the major turmoil she followed her to the elevators. “Excuse me? I overheard your argument. May I ask what the problem is?”

“The council doesn't answer questions. Rumors say that they want to sacrifice the colonies to protect their homeworld. Also I wonder why Commander Shepard is here. She should be home fighting for our planet.”

Ahsoka reached out through the force and tried to calm her down. “She isn't running. She knows that this war is going to end if they are on their own. She tries to unite the Galaxy against this threat.

We need all the help we can get.”

Kahlisa began to cry. “Before the feeds blacked-out. There was so much destruction. So many died before we could do anything. I feel so useless.”

The togruta shooted her. “It's okay. You feel scared. But don't think that you are useless. You are a reporter. Use that status. Remind the council that they should not forget. Keep asking questions.”

“I will. Thank you...” “Call me Ahsoka.” “Thank you, Ahsoka.”

 

Erik oversaw the transfer of the equipment. He and John had come to an agreement that the Cobras as they called themselves now could take their own equipment. Aside from the gunship they decided to take a prototype with them. The UT-AT was a small tank based on the AT-TE. Instead of legs it used repulsorlifts to move. Due to the outfitting with a Mk-2 fusion drive it was faster than the standard model. Also it was equipped with a ray-shield and was able to drop out of orbit and land in the ground. In case they needed artillery support an AT-AP was packed into the cargo hold.

Their first mission was to go to Palavan and evacuate the Primarch Fedorian. At the same time Bo-Katan and Ashley would take care of a Cerberus Lab found on Sanctum while the 327th would dispatch ARC-170 units to scan and scout the sectors.

 

Arriving on Sanctum Bo-Katan in Kom'rk-class ships she prepared her squad for the drop. Ashley would jump down later when the Nightowls had secured the landing area. Deploying from the ship they landed and secured it. Afterwards the ship hovered next to the platform and Ashley jumped out.

“Secure everything you can find.” She ordered. Bo nodded and her unit fanned out to fulfill the order. She and Ashley checked a control room. “Medi-gel enhancement only for Hanar.” Ashley scoffed. “Only Cerberus would call that a failure.”

Then their pilot checked in. “Ma'am. Cerberus coming in. Moving out to evade the fighters. One legion was already deployed. You're on your own until I disable the tails.”

She decided that it was best to use the jetpacks and get away. They fired at the Cerberus soldiers and planted bombs. As they ran out the explosion threw them from the platform. Bo used her arms to stabalize her fall and looked for Ashley. The marine fell down fast. The mando woman used her jetpack to get to her nad grabbed her. “Hold on.” Stopping their descend they regrouped with the other nightowls. “Let's hope he looses them.”

 

The Normandy dispatched the larty and the shuttle. The larty went in first guns blazing. The husks storming the turian camp were shredded by the constant fire. After the touch down the teams dispersed into the camp. The medical team, consisting of the medics Kix and Coric as well as their escort Hardcase, Jesse and Tup led the new recruits F18, F22 and 66 to the infirmary to deal with the wounded. Behind them Kano Boomer and Slice moved as a recon squad to the main barricade and assisted in its defence. Jane went up to General Corinthus. Meeting his long time friend Garrus John wanted to talk to him when Corinthus told them about the situation. “The Comm relay is down. We need you to take care of it.”

John volunteered as an Engineer and an infiltrator he would be able to sneak past the reaper and repair the relay.

“Erik, go with him. You are our only man with a cloak.” The Ranger nodded. Together the two snuck out of the base. Just then a call came in. “Commander, EDI is offline.”

“What do you mean, offline?” Jane asked back. “She is weird. Weapons are shut down and rebooted, scanners show strange anomalies. And she's not responding.” Joker explained.

She cursed the fact that John was currently away. “I can go back and see if I can help.” Liara offered. “Do it.” Echo joined her claiming that his expertise with hacking would be useful. Then a harvester appeared over the camp, dropping Marauders and Husks. Jane used a biotic charge to hit the first dropping Marauder pinning the reaper to the ground as Garrus and Ahsoka charged behind her. The turian took cover behind a rock as he fired. Next to him Fives switched to sniper mode and began firing. “Oh, a fellow sniper.” Garrus muttered.

 

Erik threw another detonator. They had managed to sneak past the husks but as soon as they began to work on the tower John's cloak deactivated to recharge. Erik engaged the reaper with a widely spread suppressing fire and soon the turian team originally tasked to repair the comms broke through to them. “How long, Commander?”

John shifted through the wires. He opened his omni-tool and entered three codes. The red light on the panel stopped flashing and switched to green. “Finished!” he shouted as he sealed the hatch. Jumping down he fired his shotgun. A husk jumped him but his defender-armor withstood the punch as he reached over, pulled it down and stomped on its head.

 

Kano fired his carbiner into the husks attacking the barricade. Slice had managed to turn the turret into a sentry which would attack any reaper it saw. The DC weapons punched right through the husks. The turians were impressed. “Whey you mostly fight heavily armed droids you need a lot of fire power” Boomer commented as he threw a thermal detonator.

“In this galaxy independent AIs are forbidden.”

 


	2. War Summit

**Gathering**

 

Ventress checked the surroundings. Lieutenant Angeles was on the other side of the camp observing it. The Eden Prime Colony had gone dark. They were now here to check on it. Cerberus presence has been confirmed. They would soon attack and retake the camp. Hopefully they would be able to find anything. She missed Obi-Wan through the connection of the force she could feel him slightly. Not much but enough to know he was alive and missing her.

“Commander, we are ready. Moving in.” The assassin jumped down the rock she was sitting on. Scouting the camp she found dead marines. As she checked a terminal someone pressed a muzzle against her head. “Don't move.” She didn't wait and ignited her lightsabers. Cutting through the surprised attacker she warned the Rangers. “Cerberus on scene. Stay put.”

She began her deadly dance.

 

On the other side of the galaxy Deviss oversaw the search for an obelisk. The K-Kompany had split up. Two experienced platoons were put under the command of Bly. The missing two platoons were replaced with the Cur'val-Dar clones. They were stationed as scouting the Terminus System while the K-Company under Bly searched the council space. For better distinction they had numbered the unit. Bly had the platoons K1 to K4. Deviss had K9 to K6. K5 was the reserve unit which would remain on the ships.

Bly was busy supporting the turians of the 1st Regiment on Digeris. The heavy walkers provided fire support for the turian ground forces while the 327th circled around and took out the reaper-reinforcements. The AT-TEs' mass driver cannons punched right through the brutes. Two juggernauts transported the wounded back to the evacuation zone.

Bly took a shot to his chest as he shielded General Secura. “Bly!” “I'll live.” he coughed. Galle got down next to him and checked the armor. “Shot didn't punch through.”

 

Erik fired another burst at the last brute. The concentrated fire irritated the reaper. It didn't know which one to attack. A sniper round from Ashley ended the beast.

“General Victus?”

“Commander Shepard.”

While Jane talked to Victus Rex checked in with Echo. “How's the ship's status.”

“Kind of stabilized, Sir. We don't know what happened but we managed to isolate the cause in the AI-Core. Just can't get in there. Also General Tano's Astromech is probably in there. She didn't want to tell us what happened but assured to work on her side.” “Tell Arseven to hurry up. We've found the new Primarch and are returning soon.”

After Victus said goodbye to his troops he joined them. Fives called Hawk who touched down with open slide doors. As they entered the doors slid shut and the gunship left the moon.

Before they went to the war summit there was one more thing they had to investigate: Eden Prime.

 

 

Landing the shuttle they found the team at the digging site. “We found a living Prothean.” James said. Jane looked at him. “What? I like Asari and I read their articles.”

Liara analyzed the device. “I can't open it. Cerberus has damaged it while extracting it. We need the codes to do so.” “We found some files but we can't decipher it. We need someone who can understand the prothean language.”

John and Jane looked at each other. “Show us.” They said.

Getting the codes was an easy task for the two Commander Shepards. However it was the intensive rush of information that exhausted them.

When they returned the 13th Platoon had already moved out to help the Eden-Prime-resistance. “Torrent-Company” James couldn't help himself but to ask. “Doesn't a company has about 150 soldiers?”

Jesse looked at the marine. “The 501st Legion has suffered a lot of losses during the clone wars. Torrent-Company was nearly wiped out three times. We are what remains of the original Torrent-Company.” “We weren't with our brothers when the Company was nearly wiped out the first time. We were still in the medbay. Kano over there was on Ryloth scouting when it happened the second time. Coric is one of the last survivor from Teth.”

“Sorry I asked.” Hardcase nodded. “No problem. I overheard your sparring with Commander Shepard. She punched you into the ground when you told her about your loss. If you want to talk, We're always there.”

Suddenly Cerberus forces dropped from the sky. The Atlas mechs began attacking but the AT-AP just shrugged the fire off. The mass driver cannon fired its projectile at the first Atlas, punching through the main armor. The blaster cannon on top needed two shots: One to wear down the shields and one to take out the cockpit. Jane rushed into battle against the soldiers. Her nova catapulted the Cerberus-soldiers apart Throwing out a shockwave she threw the survivors over the cliff.

Kaidan smiled. “Remember me to never piss you off.”

With a hiss the pod opened. “Remember for us it has been over 50.000 years. For him it has been...”

“Five seconds!...”

Ahsoka watched as the prothean collapsed. She felt a void in the force. The urge for revenge. She knew better than to stop this one but she would try to direct his rage at the right people.

“Asari, human, turians. I am surrounded by primitives.” He looked over to the clones.

“Clones? Supersoldiers? Togrutas? What happened to this galaxy?”

John looked over at them. “We should talk somewhere save.”

 

After returning to the Normandy they set course for the war summit. It was a shame that the Asari refused to come. Especially in times like these it was important to stay united.

John went to the AI-Core. Echo and Chief Engineer Adams stood at the door. Both had fire extinguishers ready. Kenny opened the doors. Smoke came out. Fearlessly Echo and Adams moved in. While the chief Engineer turned the sprinklers off Echo looked at the shadow in the fog. He dropped his extinguisher and pulled his pistols out. “Is there a problem, Commander?”John recognized the voice. “EDI? You are in Dr. Eva's body.” “Yes. While I tried to download the memory a back-up unit came online and tried to hack me. Thanks to this little droid who connected and confused the AI I managed to regain control. I had to focus nearly all my processes against this AI.” John laughed. “Let Adams check the programming. I have to deal with our Prothean guest.”

While John took care of their Prothean guest Jane went to the conference room to negotiate the talks. Ahsoka changed into her jedi attire while Erik remained in his armor.

“The krogan is in no position to make demands!” Dalatrass Linron exclaimed.

“The krogan has a name: Urdnot Wrex. And I'm not just a Junkyard-Varren you unleash whenever you're in trouble.” He looked at Shepard. “I have my own problems. Reaper scouts have arrived on Tuchanka.”

Victus stopped him. “We're under us here. I know war. Tell me what you want in exchange for your help.”

“I'll tell you what I need...” He made a dramatic pause. “A cure for the genophage.”

Erik disassembled his sidearm while he listened to the following argument between Shepard and the salarian.

Ahsoka tried to speak up but she was drowned out in the heated discussion.

Erik sighed and began to reassemble his gun. Shoving the mag in with a laud smack and doing a brass-check got the leaders' attention.

“This discussion is getting us nowhere. People are dying out there while you talk about formalities.

I can sense that although Wrex hates you for the genophage, he isn't going to wage war over it. There is a species at stake and It is my duty as a jedi to keep them alive. If you go against him, you go against me. And with me you go against the Republic.” She went for a threatening approach.

“We are getting these women and if you try to stop us I'll order every single trooper to shoot salarians on sight. No questions asked.” Victus decided to increase the pressure. “And I'll be the last friendly turian you'll ever see.”

Linron hated this young girl. “The females are on an STG-base on Sur'kesh. But I warn you Commander. The consequences of this will be felt for centuries to come.”

“And that will still be a better alternative to what happens if the reapers win.” A new voice boomed through the room.

John stood next to the prothean. “Meet Jarvis. The Avatar of Revenge of the Prothean Empire. He's on our side.”

“We're going now. The Republic will oversee the exchange as a neutral party.” Erik declared.

 

At the same time an emergency call came in. The comm officer, Traynor, analyzed the signal.

“Commander. The Grissom academy is under attack.”

“Aren't academies closed during war?” John asked.

“Yes but The Grissom academy is a special one for talented students. Talented as an asset for the military.”

“Is there something we can do?” Jan asked.

“No. A turian freighter responded to the call but something didn't seem right. I and EDI checked it and discovered an anomaly.”

Before anyone could ask the obvious question a new person entered the room.

“It is the same signal that lured us to the collector's trap.”

“EDI? You are in Doctor Eva's body.”

EDI lifted a hand and watched it. “Yes. The transition wasn't clean but thanks to the little one here I managed.” She patted R7's dome.

“Are you planning to go anywhere?” Traynor asked.

“The Normandy isn't perfectly equipped for all kinds of Situation. This platform could provide ground support.”

“I trust your judgment, EDI. Just don't be surprised if people don't like you. AI, remember?” John said.

Ahsoka looked at the galaxy map. “The 13th Platoon could evacuate it. They are close.”

John looked at the map. “I send a boy there. David Archer.”

Arseven beeped and Ahsoka nodded. “My ARC-170 starfighter is in your cargo bay. R7 could fly you and two squadmates there and later take you back to the Normandy. ”

John hugged her. “Thank you!” he and R7 left for the elevator.

Jane looked at the jedi. “You made my brother happy. Its good to see him really smile in this mess.”

They dispatched the Kodiak as for a change they entered a peaceful zone. Deciding on the bad condition of the krogan females Ahsoka decided to remain on board the ship and let the medics go with the alliance. Coric, Kix and Erik filled into the shuttle where EDI and Liara joined them.

As they approached the landing pad Wrex told them about the situation on Tuchanka.

He was surprised to meet EDI but was fine with her. Kix and Coric were going through their gear.

The salarians claimed that they had no landing permission. “Let's see them stopping a krogan drop.”

Jane sighed as he jumped.

 

John arrived at the Red Montana. The flagship of Catherine set course for the Grissom Academy. He took Javik and Garrus with him. It had taken him a long discussion to persuade Javic of coming on board of an AI-controlled fighter. Landing on the battleship he had joined with the Rangers.

The NRW had already performed a micro-jump to the Grissom-Academy and drew Cerberus' attention. Now the Red Montana jumped. It reappeared right next to the station. It's large hull shielded it from cross fire. The hangar doors opened as the FV-22s began to release the Rangers.

Kelly landed with her collegues Morgan and McCord in the auxillary hangar and linked up with John. “Commander Shepard? Platoon Sergeant Kelly. We are aour contact to the other Rangers.

 

Bly went through the reports while Aayla delivered the obelisk to the politicians. After evacuating a Shadow-Broker team from the Krogan DMZ and the turians of the 1st regiment the Republic had gotten quite the reputation. Waiting for the elevator he overheard a man talking.

“Excuse me, Sir. Is there a problem?”

“My son Bilal. His squad returned from a mission on Benning without him. None of them can tell me where he is. I don't know if he's alive or not. Please. I need to know about his whereabouts. We want to know of we can wait for him or should begin grieving.”

“I'll look what I can do.” Bly checked with his mission log. Indeed there had been a report of attacks on Benning. Alliance forces had been attacked and pulled out. He looked on his map. They could deploy to it on their way to Attican Traverse.

He informed Aayla about it. The Twi'lek agreed with him. She stayed close to him as they proceeded to the Consular ship to get back to their fleet.

Mordin urged Jane to hurry up. Cerberus attacked the base while they were down here talking.

Kix and Erik had decided to go into the transportation area to ensure the krogan's health.

As they activated the elevator there was a surprise. “BOMB!” Coric shouted. They reacted immediately and jumped away. “Everyone okay?” Jane asked.

“I'm good.” Liara said. “Fully functional.” EDI confirmed. Coric simply stood up and checked his blaster. “Charged.” he said.

The headed over to the emergency exit. Climbing up they reached a balcony. Salarians were holding it but suddenly smoke evolved the area. Major Kirrahe met up with them. “Ways blocked.”

“Any way to get through?” Jane asked. “You could say so.” the Major said as he fired his scorpion at the Cerberus blockade. The bullets stuck to their armor and the ground. The explosion took several of them out. Kirrahe used the distraction to seek cover. A team of Cerberus-techs came and set up turrets. EDI used her skills to hack the turrets. The weapons turned around and killed their surprised owners. “Remember me to never us an electronic device if EDI's pissed.” Liara muttered.

“Don't worry, doctor T'Soni. I will tell you if I plan to conquer the galaxy.” the android joked.

“Watch out! Cerberus!” Coric shouted and switched to thermal vision. Aiming his blaster he fired at them. Jane charged into the smoke and used a nova to clear it away. A biotic punch threw one into the wall where he splashed into a mess. Liara used a singularity to pull the occupants of the second shuttle out and drop them into the deep canyon. Around the corner two Cerberus soldiers were killed by a Yahg. “Look, there's the next shadow broker!” Jane joked. “Not funny.” Liara said dryly. Coric didn't waste time with jokes as he bypassed the fire.

John had led his team to Kahlee Sanders. Now they were passing through the academy. They had met a young student and sent him back the cleared corridors to Sanders. In the next room which looked like a class room he spotted a datapad. The style the teacher used was familiar but he didn't know who it reminded him of. A student ran across and was shot. Garrus rolled over the table and fired at the Cerberus soldiers. As soon as Javik and John secured the room he checked the student for a pulse. “We lost her.” In the next room they found another student. They applied medi-gel to her wound which would have killed her in a few seconds. Sending her back to Sander's office they continued towards the Orion hall. In the way they destroyed the Cerberus Computer, giving Sanders a little bit of control back. Storming the hall they were surprised to see Subject Zero: Jack.

The biotic threw the Cerberus-soldier around. When an Atlas appeared she blocked his shot with her powers. John and Garrus used their armor-piercing ammo to shoot the joints, making the mech immobile. Javik fried the pilot with his biotics melting him into a green puddle.

“I knew Sanders asked for help but that the king of the boyscouts would come.” She hugged him. “All good. But I have to ask: You as a teacher?”

“What would be a larger pain in the ass of Cerberus as to know that their subject escaped andhelps their enemy and they can do nothing about it.” she retorted. Kelly checked the students for wounds while McCord analyzed the computers. “Miss Sanders? Do you have full control?”

“No.” He worked on a few wires and connected two others. “Now?”

“Good. I'm in. Okay. I'll try to deactivate the jammers and lock Cerberus out of our repeaters for the long-range communication.” McCord tried to reach his fellow Rangers but they were probably too busy to reply. “Miss Sanders what's the status on the 13th?”

He heard tapping on a keyboard. “They have taken the hangar but are now pinned down in the terminal next to it by two Atlas mechs. You need to hurry. Through the garden and up to the tech department. After that you cross two rooms. Go straight to the terminal.”

McCord thanked jer before rejoining his team. “Rangers need back-up. We can flank them. Through this set of doors and always in that direction until we hit them.”

John nodded. “We go in below and draw their attention.” Turning to Jack he said. “Keep them on the balcony. Do as much damage as you can.”

 

Erik worked on the krogan as fast as he could. She was stable but her stress level was abnormal high. It didn't help that Cerberus constantly tried to kill them. Kix was mixing a tranquillizer. They had called for back-up but the Normandy was busy fighting off the Cerberus-cruiser. Luckily EDI was able to tell them about hostile shuttles to come.

Joker was glad John had ordered the new Thanix cannons. They wore the shields down and at the last moment he fired the Javelin torpedoes. Behind him the krogan and salarian ships engaged the fighters. For diplomatic ships they had heavy weaponry. In a short moment they dispatched the LAAT/i with Ahsoka and her boys on it.

Coric fired at the group ambushing the freight lift. A flash grenade had impaired them and Jane was already cutting through them. EDI only used a pistol but her aim was 100%-accurate. He guessed that she would even hit her target if they supplied her with a sniper rifle, outfit it with a larger mag and a full auto mode.

His mag ran dry and he took cover to reload. Next to him Liara took a graze. He dropped his rifle and fired his sidearm into the soldier. While EDI covered them he cleaned the wound and bandaged it. The robot grabbed a soldier hiding behind a table by simply piercing her arm through it and threw him effortlessly into a cage of varrens.

While the four hold Cerberus back Kirrahe used the console to authorize the transfer.

“Last station. See you on the landing pad, Shepard!” Mordin said. Getting to the next level was easy. Climbing up a ladder they arrived on the landing pad. Beating the surprised Cerberus-soldiers there they authorized the release. Just as the shuttle touched down an Atlas dropped out of the sky. The shuttle pulled away but the mech was still there, attacking the pod. Coric stumbled as the shot hit them. “Shields are failing!”

Then a familiar sound filled the air. “Calvary is here!” Out of the open door Ahsoka jumped down from the gunship. Her lightsaber cut through the armor and damaged the reactor. She landed as the mech exploded right behind her.

When the container was set down on the landing pad Kix and Erik helped the krogan down. Wrex offered his hand to her but she ignored him. Then two Cerberus-soldiers landed behind them. Rex immediately fired at them from the gunship making his first kills during this battle.

Jane grabbed the surviving one. “Who told you about the female. How did you slip past the STG?”

The soldier groaned in pain. “Commander Shepard.” Jane recognized the voice “Sergeant Gardner?” “Call me Rupert.”

“Medic!” Kix and Coric immediately went over to stabilize the man. Different to the other soldier Rupert Gardner didn't receive any visible husk-implants.

The two clones transferred the wounded into the gunship where they took care of him.

 

After the garden John discovered two Cerberus-soldiers talking to three students protected by an energy shield. He fired his sniper rifle at the one on the right while Garrus took out the one on the left. Javik secured their back as they approached the students. “I'm Commander Shepard. Alliance Navy. I am here to help.”

“I didn't believe the first one. Why should I believe you?” the girl retorted. Before Shepard could say anything the second boy in the shield asked: “Square root of 912.04 is...?”

John remembered the mission back then. “30.2”

“Hello, Commander Shepard.”

“David, you know him?” the boy asked. David nodded. “He and his sister saved me from Cerberus and send me here. Since then I have been counting.” “Counting what?” John asked. “The numbers of days my life has been prolonged by you.” David explained. He then recognized Garrus. “I remember you. Normandy Crew. I'm sorry.”  
“No permanent harm done.” Garrus assured him. “Biotic students are topstairs. Join them.” Kohn send the students off.

Continuing down the hall. They surprised a Cerberus-technician trying to hack the academy's systems. While Javik took care of him John and Garrus stormed up into the terminal. The took position behind the monument in the middle and fired at the closest Atlas. John's disruptor ammo tore away the shield while Garrus' armor-piercing rounds drilled through the protective plates in the back. The second one budged under the fire of four rockets hitting critical systems. Both blew up in a fireball when the reactor melt-down.

Morgan fired another bolt at Cerberus. The Rangers have finally broken free of Cerberus and had defended the hangar the hangar. Their VTOLs hovered in and took the students on board. Armor flooded the hall and secured their retreat. Of the biotic and the techs everyone survived. He recommended the team to be placed at the frontline. With Jack as the commanding officer it would be a great asset. Joker teased her whether she would wear a uniform or just tattoo the new rank onto her.

After Mordin declared that he needed time to create a new cure for Eve as he called his patient.

While Jane made a social visit with Eve Ahsoka and Erik stood over the galaxy map and coordinated the fleets.

“Bly was on Benning evacuating civilians and beating Cerberus. They are clearing out for the alliance to get in. Deviss has probably finished scanning this side of the Attican Traverse. He will be heading to the other side and continue in the outer council space.

While they talked John established a connection. “Grissom academy is safe. I'll be heading back to the Citadel with the UST-fleet.”

“Wait, John. You might stay where you are.” Jane came into the room. After talking to Eve she talked to Wrex and Adrien.

“We have multiple problems. Wrex asked for assistance in a problem. A scout team didn't report back. They were over here on Utukku. John, use the starfighter to get there and meet up with Grunt.” Ahsoka looked at the map and updated Commander Bly's location. “Aayla Secura is the closest one we can spare at the moment. She'll meet you there.”

Jane continued. “The turians crashed a platoon on Tuchanka. They need exfil and possibly help with their mission.”

Erik nodded. “Place is crawling with Reapers. I suggest we go in stealthy and bail them out. I and the clones can take care of it. I am more concerned about the Cerberus activity around this space artillery.”

Ventress got into John's line. “I'll be over there soon. How about it Ahsoka. A little girl time? Just us and a few bad guys?”

Jane approved the mission. “So to the matter at hand. When we arrive on Tuchanka the cure will probably be ready. Wrex and the woman will surely come. I'll go down there with Liara and EDI.

Mordin will insist on coming. Can you spare your two medics?” she asked Ahsoka.

The togruta nodded. “Kix and Coric can go. They can protect Eve and take care of her medical needs at the same time. Takes a load off doctor Solus shoulders”


	3. All for One and One for All

**All for one and one for all**

 

Deviss checked again. Bly had send him a message. While his units delivered the important assets they retrieved from invaded planets he went up to the Embassies. He found Ambassador Osoba.

“Ambassador?” Deviss asked.

“Yes?” Deviss took his helmet off and looked at the man apologetically. “Commander Bly was on Benning. They found your son. He was fighting Cerberus. A turret nearly killed them. He is on board of one of our medical transports. His condition is critical. I won't lie. He might not make it. Go to Dock D26. A shuttle is there. It will take you and your family to him.”

The ambassador began to cry. “Thank you. Thank you. To know that we can at least see him, settles my mind.”

Deviss nodded. He replaced his helmet again. He had already talked to the unit. The marines regretted leaving their man behind and were returning to training so it would never happen again.

When he left he looked on his mission log. Units K6 and K7 were still in the Attican Traverse but K8 had already begun to scan the outer council space. K9 was currently stuck on the Citadel as they took a break while K5 moved out to the Asari system.

When he entered the Purgatory he had met Aria T'Loak. The Asari had shown interest in the new force in the Galaxy. John had received a message from her and had forwarded it to the Cobras.

Deviss shook his head. Working with mercs wasn't always a pleasure but it was necessary. Especially with Aria who could be considered as the queen of the outlaws.

John had managed to deal with most of the merc problem when he arrived here from Grissom Academy. But when he left for the Rachni problem he still had to deal with the “General Onaka problem”.

Deviss went down to the Presidium. He found the reactivated General sitting and coordinating his attacks. “General Onaka?”

“Ah, a clone trooper. I heard a lot about your lot. Dreaded soldiers. You don't hide from your enemies.”

“Commander Deviss. K9. You could say the white armor proves our skill in stealth. I have another reason to come here. Commander Shepard is trying to get mercs on his side and you are the key to one of them.”

“The Blue Suns I guess? They attack the weapon delivery for C-SEC. I may not be able to stop the reaper but I am certainly able to ensure C-SECs' active status.”

Deviss thought about offering the Cobras' spare weapons but decided against it. “There must be other sources for weapons. In times of war smuggling isn't really, let's say as immoral as it was before.”

Onaka nodded. He liked how this trooper thought. “There is a black market dealer here but he won't sell to me.”

Deviss hated those dealers. “I'll see what I can get out of him.” The clone stood up and went to the weapon store. Leaning against the counter he waited for the salarian to finish his business. Finally the vendor came to him. “Hello. I'm Kannik. See anything you like?” Deviss patted his rifle. “Already got what I like. I', here because of something my friends like.” Kannik panicked. “Look. I have a permit for these.” Deviss looked at the pistols and SMGs displayed. “That are the light weapons. Where's the artillery?” he asked. Kannik sighed. “Okay. I indeed have better weapons but I only exchange them for hard goods.” Deviss didn't reply but indicated the vendor to continue. “When this war is over you can be sure that the currencies have collapsed. Everything will be handled by barter. I'm merely preparing for that.” It took Deviss complete diplomatic training not to sjoot this asshole. He exhaled before answering. “IF there are survivors after this war. If we loose you can be sure that the Reapers will wipe all advanced races out. The races left alone wouldn't be advanced enough to barter with you. Or do you plan on making business with a yahg? Better give C-SEC some weaponry and I might consider not blowing your business.” Deviss threatened.

 

 

John arrived on the planet after a complicated introduction of Grunt to Javik he met the rest of Aralakh Company. General Secura, Commander Bly and an ARC-team of K1 joined them.

Investigating the camp they found a gigantic sinkhole. Using the remaining structure to cross the gap it suddenly crashed down.

Checking on themselves they had no losses. Bly waved his team forward. Galle pulled a trooper up and together they moved towards the tunnel entrance. Their bright headlights cut through the darkness. “This place gives me the creeps.” a trooper said.

Galle nicked him. “That's why we call you Creeps.” John led them through the tunnels. “Keep watch of Rachni.” the marine said. “In my times we used the Rachni as weapons. They weren't intelligent at that time.” Javik commented. “I can sense a major turmoil. A gigantic mental being. It cries for help.” Aayla said with closed eyes. Bly looked at her. They jumped down into a bigger cave. He spotted something through his macrobinocular. “I guess that walking alien tank over there is a Rachni?” John paled. “Ravagers! Shoot them!”

Hell was unleashed as they opened fire.

 

The sun burned on them hot as hell. Ahsoka had completely ditched her armor. She had returned to her more revealing attire of a tube top and her hot pants. Even Ventress had to change from her long dress to a shorter attire. They cut through the Cerberus soldiers. For the force-users it was child's play to reach the control room. When the power went down Ahsoka left it to Ventress to work her magic on the controls while she would repair the power lines. A sniper tried to shoot her and thought herself in security on top of the cannon. Ahsoka aimed her shoto and threw it high in the sky. Using her remaining sword she cut through the remaining turrets and Engineers. Behind her she heard the satisfying _thud_ as the incapacitated sniper fell down.

Erik fired another burst to gain the Harvesters attention. So far they had collected all the turians and were now leading an assault to evacuate the remaining unit. Next to him Rex fired his twin blasters into the reaper. He had taken two CS-6 main bodies without the stock and the barrel.  Fives fired a rocket launcher which was rigged to exploded after the penetration. It worked as the rocked drilled into the reaper and destroyed it from within. He have  Echo a high  five.

Finding Lieutenant Victus Erik began the interrogation. “What is your mission?”

Kix fired at the husk storming the stairs. He and Coric had taken positions on top of it, leaving Jane, Liara and Edi to fight below them.

With this strike they hoped to beat the odds. The jedi at the cannon would draw Cerberus forces while the clones evacuating the turians would get the reaper.

As the room was cleared the krogans assembled.

“Shepard. Patient stable but we should hurry. Each second longer the reaper could infect air. Infected air means infected krogans. No krogans, no win.” Mordin urged.

“Who invited the salarian?”

Wrex groaned. “Meet Wreav. The biggest dumbass on this radioactive junk.”

“This one belongs to me. He can cure the genophage.”

The two  krogans  got into an argument  and Wreav was about to begin a firefight when Ev e broke it. “Enough! You can stay here and butt heads over nothing like you have always done.” She walked past them and looked back. “Or you can show what krogans are made off and save our species. Who's with me?”

Jane stepped up. “I am.” “And me.” Kix hefted his blaster. “You're not alone, vode.” Coric added.

“And I will come, too.” Mordin said as he stepped out of Wrex shadow.

“I will go. And now heads up! We have a reaper to kill” Wrex declared.

Soon the transports traveled along a road towards the Shroud. Jane looked contacted their air support. “This is Lightning flight. We are in bound. Note: we can deliver a heavy payload to the reaper before we fall back onto mounted weapons. Artimec flight is still out as their fighters do not have stealth capabilities.”

In the meantime the clone troopers broke through the Cerberus barricade towards the bomb and meet up with Lieutenant Victus.  Suddenly they were targeted by snipers. While Rex secured the turians Fives searched the area. “A sniper duel. It is on.” He ran out, making clear that he was the sniper's enemy. Dust covered him as the sniper missed him. Echo analyzed the shots  with his rangefinder . Quickly calculating in his mind he triangulated the position. “Fives! 5 o'clock. Between 40 and 50 degrees  up !”

“Thanks!” Adjusting his scope for the distance he allowed himself to smile. “Say goodbye.” His laser bolt left the barrel and flew across the ruins. It tore through the Nemesis' scope and drilled through her eye and head, killing her instantly.

Rex called in Support. “We have mechs incoming. A tank would be nice.”

The waves of enemies didn't stop. Just as they got rid of the third wave two mechs dropped from the sky. “Great. Just great.” Erik complained.

Just as the first mech was about to fire another thing fell out of the sky.

“Bullseye!” Kano shouted. Boomer aimed the cannon and fired at the second mech while Slice used multiple blaster cannons at the same time to target the footsoldiers. The appearance of the UT-AT changed the tide.

Erik and Liara were holding their own against the brute. Despite its strength Jane decided to go for a biotic charge. Her nova ripped the brute open for the clones to finish it off. After loosing the krogan infantry they had to go in commando style. It didn't help at all that the treshermaw Kalros was after them.

Crossing an ancient shrine they quickly disposed of a set of marauders before entering the tank. As Wrex sped away the second tank containing Wreav got sucked into the ground. However Wrex didn't seem too sad about loosing his brother. “Was a pain in the ass, anyway.”

Skidding to a stop at Kalros home they looked at the reaper. “So what was the idea you talked about?”

Ev e nodded. “It was mine. We lure Kalros here. Her territorial instinct will urge her to attack the reaper.”

 

Victus climbed onto the bomb to separate the payload from the trigger. However the last one jammed. He hung from the last hold and took out the bolts that attached it to the bomb. Then the Bomb was released. Victus fell with it. He was prepared to die when suddenly an armored hand closed around his hand. “Got you, soldier.” Rex hold onto him while the other pulled the two up.

“Someone go tell the krogans we disabled the bomb.” Victus ordered his men.

 

Captain Nik looked out of his cockpit. It was the first time he went against a reaper and this one was huge. His flight had circled the Shroud in a safe distance. Artimec flight had made an unpleasent contact with the reaper. Probably a hot shot who tried to be a hero. He had ordered the turians to pull out and stay on stand-by. Just now he saw the reaper firing at the ground. “Lightning flight: weapons hot and speed high. We're going in.”

He pulled his F-35B into an approach that would take him deep through the ruins.

Breaking through the sound barrier he reached Mach 1,6.

“Closing in on target. Opening weapons bay. Readying all bombs.”

 

Ventress laughed maniacally. It has been a long time since she created this much chaos. The cannons tore the Cerberus-cruiser apart. She and Ahsoka were really on best friends term now.

Deviss checked his com-link. After intimidating the black-market dealer he had to take care of something else. Commander Ventress had send him a plan of a power grid with the note:  _Give this to the Purgatory. About fucking time they got a reliable system._

Bly kept the area secure with the krogans. He and his troopers blaster the Rachni on sight. Aayla had gone with Shepard. The jedi was shocked to see the Rachni Queen enslaved. She reached through the force to calm her down and assure her of their friendly intentions. Together with John she negotiated an alliance. “She's weak. She will need time to get out of here. “Bly! Pull back. Regroup on my position.” The commander didn't reply but pressed the speak button two times. He had understood. He send the Aralakh Company towards the entrance with Creeps' team while Barr, Inc and Galle moved with Bly and Grunt towards the Rachni Queen.

Coric ran to the base of the Shroud while Kix escorted Eve out. Mordin tried to bypass the firewall the STG had set. He couldn't remotely repair the sabotage.

“Have to go. Am the only one who could get that right.”

Coric looked up. “I'm coming with you.”

Mordin looked at them. “No need. I can do it alone.” Coric placed his hand on the doctor's shoulder. “You can cure them alone but you need help to get down from that thing.” he pointed at his jetpack.

 

Deviss checked his communications again. The C-SEC line he used was jammed. “Strange.” he thought. None of the C-SEC lines worked. He switched to the short-ranged private comm.

“K9, come in. I am experiencing static on C-SEC.”

“Commander, this is Sergeant Green. Talon Squad is at the docks. We met up with Kelly Chambers. She tells us that Cerberus is attacking. I don't know where all the others are. My squad just regrouped.”

“This is Tatty. We femtroopers are at the Purgatory. Just spotted a Cerberus shuttle. Evading and Evaluating now.”

One after another the troopers managed to check in. Deviss opened the map. His platoon was spread thin over the main diplomatic area. “All squads defend the closest key position. We have to hold this station until reinforcements arrive.”

“Four NightOwls are with the council. The others have orders to engage at will.” Bo-Katan radioed in.

Deviss gave the one and only order before the line collapsed: “Search and Destroy.”

 

Mordin reprogrammed the Shroud while Coric stood next to him. “It is done. Krogans will be safe.”

“No time to celebrate, doctor. We have to get out.” the medic shouted. He grabbed Mordin. Running towards the lift he fired his blaster to shatter the glass. Jumping out he free-felled towards the ground. With a jerk he straighten himself and activated his jetpack. The pack was design for one trooper in full armor and in his case medical equipment. The jetpack struggled with the load. Coric tapped on the controls and set it on full throttle. One might think off it strange after all the wolfpack had managed to have two people on one jetpack but Coric was sure that none of them had dropped from a high building like the Shroud.

 

One after another the teams came to the holy ground. The krogans were angry but also impressed by the turian and salarian dedication to save another race they considered histile. Lieutenant Victus bashed heads with a few of them while Mordin was celebrated as the hero who cured the genophage.

Jane was about to call the party off. A war was waiting for them.

Wrex and the female approached her. “Thank you for doing this. The krogans will survive. Maybe we will demand a seat in the council and permission to colonize.”

Jane nodded. “Time to recognize the krogans as a part of our alliance.”

The female nodded. “Remember Commander. Urdnot Bakara is forever thankful for your actions. The krogans will return to the old glory they had.”

 

Deviss shot the Cerberus operative in the head. Taking cover behind the door he continued to fire.

He could see the nests his men and women had set up all over the Citadel. A grenade bumped against he foot. With wide eyes he flung himself through the window and let the sharrtered glass rain on him. He heard footsteps. His rifle was too far away. Grabbing his sidearm he aimed it at the newcomer.

Thane immediately hold his hands in front of him to show that he was unarmed.

“I am a friend of Shepard's. Thane Krios.” he introduced himself.

“Commander Deviss, K9.” the clone retrieved his rifle and fired it at Cerberus.

Then his com-link beeped. “Talon Squad has reclaimed fight control. The distress beacon has been destroyed. Wait. Normandy is here. They don't know what is up.”

Thane activated his omni-tool. “Can you patch me through, trooper?” Green didn't answer directly but the green light on Thane's communicator was enough for an answer.

“Commander Shepard?”

“Thane?”

“Do not land at the docks. I repeat: Do not land at the docks. Cerberus has taken control.” Thane shouted over the noise.

“Where are you?”

The drell knew the human by heart. “Don't come and get me. Go to C-SECHQ. I'll meet you there.”

Deviss got rid of the last Cerberus in his view. “Lead the way.”

 

John made it out of the cave alive along with Grunt and the clones. Aayla had separated from them to help the Rachni Queen. A group of Ravangers had attacked them but clone troopers with miniguns had hold them at bay. When they finally walked out backwards a trooper fired a rocket launcher at the wall above the entrance. The falling rocks sealed the opening and crushed the reaper below it.

As he reentered the star fighter he got a message from Hackett.

“Commander. Specialist Traynor has reported that the Citadel is under attack. Your sister and the clone units have already engaged them. There is nothing you could do at this point. However the quarians have offered to help with the crucible. Go with the 327th and talk to them.”

 

Jane sat in the kodiak towards C-SECHQ. At the same time the gunship deployed to secure the docks. Kano's recon squad would deploy the UT-AT at the refugee camp and defend the people there. The AT-TE wasn't deployed due to its size. However two ARF-soldiers, Scout and Track took the AT-RTs out and used them for the area around the Presidium. Scout manned her walker. “Hey Track, let's see who gets the most kills. Track only laughed. “Girl, I dismantled droids before you were even born.” he said.

The kodiak landed st C-SEC. They saw C-SEC-officers being killed- Jane was furious. “Attack!”

A biotic charge got her out of the shuttle and into the mob. A nova cleared it. The clones around Ahsoka went in more subtle. Taking cover they lied down a constant stream of fire to keep Cerberus at bay. Echo broke out on the left while Fives attacked the right. Rex stormed through the middle. The attack formation was impressive. In each unit a medic was present: Kix stayed with Fives, Coric covered Rex and Erik kept Echo alive. Following them were the 501st and the Cur'val-Dar.

Jane threw a shockwave through the smoke. Throwing one into the air she let him plump to his death. One tried to hide behind a shuttle. He flare flew around it and killed him instantly. New soldiers jumped through the window above the door. Shots bounced off her armor and her biotic barrier. Before she could attack Blue laser bolts slotted the bastards. Running up the stairs she checked on Bailey. “Are you okay?”

“I am now. Please keep a bullet from stopping me opening this door.” Bailey coughed. The Cobras stormed though the open door and shot the Cerberus-Guardians there.

 

Aayla didn't know what to think of the quarians. John had filled her in on the way but she was missing something. She and Bly entered behind Commander Shepard. After going through a quarantine process and cleaning they were allowed in. Bly had even to promise to keep his helmet on. Entering the conference room a quarioan greeted them.

“Commander Shepard vas Normandy. It's nice to see you again.”

“Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tombay. Thank you again for considering my word back then.”

Raan nodded. “You already know Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neela, Admiral Daro'Xen was Moreh and Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib.”

John acknowledge the two before he looked around for another person.

“Oh and meet the newest addition to our board. Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy.” Raan continued. “And your two companions are?”

Aayla stepped up to them. Picking up the quarian customs she answered “Jedi Master Aayla Secura vas Ryloth. This is my adjutant Marshall Commander Bly vas Kamino.”

“We were sent here because in our galaxy we already fought against droids so our experience could be applied to the Geth.” Bly added.

Han'Gerrel nodded. “Than you can help us. Our fleet is pinned down near Rannoch by a Geth dreadnaught. John looked at him. “Why are you near Rannoch?”

Gerrel stood proudly. “The Migrant Fleet has begun the reclaiming of out home planet. We pushed them back to Rannoch but then this signal went out to all Geth and since then they rivaled us.”

“A clear violation of the act against provoking the Geth.” Koris stated.

Aayla looked at the battleplan. “Nonetheless we should get the quarians out of there.”

Tali opened a plan. “Our ship is equipped with the same cloaking technology the Normandy has. However we lack in speed and armor. The plan is that we attack the Geth fleet to distract them while a small strike team uses this frigate to dock and take out the dreadnought.”

Bly looked at the ship. “Any specifics?”

“It is about 30% larger than an alliance dreadnought. That makes it about 1150 meters long.”

Bly nodded. He uploaded the schematics of a Venator-cruiser next to it. “We can go against it in a one-on-one while the other two star-destroyers shield the fleet. Once we disrupt the signal you make a break for the mass portal.”

“Couldn't you just destroy the dreadnought?” Koris asked as he wanted to minimize the risks for the civilian fleet.

“Not if we have to shield your fleet at the same time.” Aayla stated. The plan was final.

The RSS Defender would engage the dreadnought while the Renown and the Negotiator escorted the quarian fleet. The three ships had been chosen as this Task Force was secret. Officially these ships have been lost but the UST had recovered parts of them and rebuild the Venator-II-Class cruisers: Same size same tech. Just installed a mark-3 fusion reactor and improve the shields. Different to the GAR standard the shield and the weaponry had separate mark2-reactors that could boost the main drive core.


	4. Reclaiming the Citadel

**Reclaiming the Citadel**

 

After breaking into C-SEC Bailey used a computer to check on the communication channels. He opened a new one which was limited to C-SEC devices and blocked the Cerberus lines. “Oh now you look at that.” “What is it?” Jane asked. “The salarian councilor Valern has an emergency meeting with the Executor. Some one important is going to be prosecuted.” Bailey answered. While they talked the Cobras already proceeded down the corridor. Checking every room, even the stalls in the bathroom they found no survivor. “Deviss, this is Rex. We have reached C-SEC. What's your ETA?”

 

Deviss ran across the market. Thane knew shortcuts that took them around Cerberus. “Ten minutes out. We are taking the ventilation shafts to stay clear of hard contact.” At the same time he coordinated his teams: “Tatty, take your girls and link up with Green at the docks. Block it and keep ships from leaving. Green, tell the 501st tanks to join you. Maybe call in the AT-TE.”

“Sir, yes, Sir!” both clones acknowledged the order.

 

Erik took down the Guardian by slamming into him and knocking him over. Using the shield he moved up the stairs and attacked the second guardian who staggered under the constant cover fore provided by Rex and Fives. Erik shoved his pistol through the slit in the Guardian's shield and fired it at point blank. A centurion jumped through the window but was knocked out by Jane's biotic charge. Liara placed a Singularity in the opening which caught the remaining Cerberus-Squad and pulled them out into the open. While the organics took care of the enemy EDI hacked the next set of doors. It took a while even for her to break through the firewall and find the trigger.

Entering a new corridor they met less resistance. Mainly a Cerberus-tech who sabotaged the elevator and two Guardians having their backs at them. The asari placed a stasis field around the engineer to hold him while EDI and Jane took out the Guardians. From the side Centurions attacked but were filled with holes by the clones.

 

“Eat laser!” Slice shouted as he fired the small Anti-Infantry blasters at the Cerberus group. The UT-AT blocked the main entrance to the refugee camp. The refugees had armed themselves with weapons from fallen C-SEC officers and Cerberus soldiers. Tactus lead the refugees into battle. It was a rare sight. Turians, asari, salarians, humans and even batarians were fighting side by side.

Kano kept track of where Cerberus came from. The battle had begun slowly. Two people had approached Kelly Chambers and asked her about her name. She replied and the two were about to shoot her when Slice intervened. Taking the shots with his armor he gave Boomer an opening to take the threat out while Kano readied the UT-AT. When Cerberus attacked the clones were prepared. Talon Squad, after helping C-SEC in retaking the control tower, joined them and fell into the enemies' flank. Hardcase, Jesse and Tup set their AT-AP onto a platform. From here they had excellent sniping opportunities with the main cannon. “Okay, let them have it!” Jesse shouted. Hardcase aimed the mass driver cannon and fired at the Cerberus shuttles that were about to deploy at the Presidium.

 

Echo checked the controlbox and rewired it. The elevator went back into service. So far they had encountered a lot of Cerberus. Calls came in from all over the Citadel. K-Company had successfully fought back on the other areas they were in. They were now locking the area down. They crossed the staff room on the way to the Executor's office. Erik tapped his helmet. “What's up Lieutenant?” Rex asked. “I have a strange interference on my sensors. It suddenly jammed when I entered this room.” They reached the last door. Ahsoka forced it open as they stormed it. Jane looked around. Kix and Coric were already checking on the Executor. “All dead.”

Jane forwarded the conclusion to Bailey. “If the councilor isn't there don't count him out yet.”

The marine looked out of the window and suddenly discovered a chair moving. A cloak was deactivated. The councilor appeared and looked around. Jane was about to get down when she suddenly saw someone landing behind the salarian. The person looked like a Cerberus-Phantom.

She shot the glass and jumped down. The assassin jumped too and kept the councilor between them, taking her line of fire.

“You're not getting away with it.”

“You're old Shepard. You will never beat me. I am the best that's why the illusive man replaced an old hag like you with me.”

Above them Fives and Erik aimed down at them. Rex, Coric and Kix kneed down behind a table and aimed at the assassin. EDI already calculated the best shot from her position while Liara prepared a stasis field to contain the attacker. Before the assassin could attack Thane appeared out of nothing. He kicked the man in the side so the clone commander could get past him. Commander Deviss grabbed the councilor and brought him behind the lines of clones. Thane fired at the assassin but his shots were blocked by a shield. The man readied his sword to attack again. Both jumped at each other. But the attack was a feint. The assassin dove under the attack and shoved his sword through Thane's chest. He tried to finish him off but shots against his shields stopped him. He turned around to retreat. Jane and Thane chased him to the pad and fired at the retreating assassin.

The drell collapsed bleeding from his wound. Kix and Coric immediately set to work on him. Ahsoka stayed behind to help him with force-healing. Rex wanted to go but didn't want to leave his girlfriend unprotected. Also his medics weren't good for combat while they worked on saving the drell. Luckily Erik made the call. “Rex, Stay here and protect them with Deviss. Echo, Fives, you come with me and the Commander. They got into the larger police car. While they followed the path the assassin took said man suddenly landed on their roof. The Cobras didn't wait and fired directly through the roof while Jane opened the door and fired. It was useless as the assassin used his shield and then killed their engine with his blade.

 

John sneaked on board the Geth dreadnought. While the star destroyers moved in for distraction they had used a small shuttle to get close. Aayla cut through the hull, clearing them a way to enter. She, Bly, Galle, Barr and Inc had offered to tag along while Shepard chose Tali due to her expertise and Garrus because of his marksman skills. Also it was because Javik didn't have a way to get through a vacuum safely. So far they didn't encounter any Geth.

As if she had read their mind Tali answered. “Geth are software. They exist within the ship. They can download themselves onto platforms to to the physical work.”

They reached a gap in the walk way. John went for the button to activate the bridge but a hand stopped him. “Wait. If the Geth are in the ship's systems they will notice we use the bridge.” Bly said.

Aayla hold her hand out to Bly. “Commander?” She used the force to lift the trooper to the other side. One after another levitated to the other side of the gap. Aayla went last, jumping across the gap and landing in Bly's arms. They proceeded down the corridor to the next console. A Geth stood a few meters down the path. Inc aimed at the Geth. He was the team's stealth specialist and carried a modified DC-19ASD. Different from the standard version from the GAR this UST-license production still had the same mag capacity and didn't overheat. Also it was a rifle, not a carbiner.

Inc crouched down and rested the weapon on the railing. He fired two shots which downed the Geth. The formed up and proceeded. Suddenly an explosion threw Bly back. He had stepped on a mine. Immediately Geth attacked from all sides.

 

Fives set his rifle on the strongest setting and fired at the Atlas. The shot was blocked by the shields and he had to take cover again before the mass driver cannon got him. Echo took a RPS-6 rocket launcher and fired at the Atlas. The first one killed the shields, creating an opening for EDI, Liara and Erik to tear through the armor and destroy it. They rushed forward but were blocked by more Cerberus soldiers. This time Two Nemesis and a Phantom tried to stop them. Echo nearly took a shot as he dove behind a skycar. Erik was less lucky as he got to face the phantom. He blocked the sword with his rifle before she could impale him. Using his foot he kicked her in the chest and threw her off him. He grabbed his sidearm and fired shots at her. Three wore down her barrier. As she tried to turn invisible he stood up.

He now had two options to detect her. Using the sonar, the radar or the thermal imaging. He went for the sonar as the radar could be fooled and the thermal was limited to his view. Sonar was one of the last someone would expect in a ground battle. He leaned to the side. The blade cut the air where he had been seconds before. Turning around he back handed her. The Cerberus-bitch flew across the railing and plunged to her death. Fives flanked around the skycar and looked around the corner. As he saw one nemesis and took the shot. Just as he got her a red dot appeared on his chest. A shot was heard. Fives looked up from his fallen position. Jane had shoved him down and caught the shot with her barrier. Pulling the Nemesis to her with her biotics she smashed her into the ground with a nova-enhanced punch.

Running up to the elevators they spotted the assassin again. This time he had a Phantom escort.

“Bailey! The assassin is going up in the elevator.” Jane relayed to her fellow Commander. “I know I'm stopping his cab in every level. Take the elevator next to it.” Bailey replied.

EDI stemmed the door open. The jumped on top of it. “Hold on. This going to be one hell of a ride.”

 

Deviss kept watch over the councilor even after they were inside the gunship. “What is so important you wanted to talk to the Executor.” Bailey asked. The councilor looked around. “It's Udina. He is in league with Cerberus. They are going to kill the council.” he explained. “Fuck!” Bailey exclaimed. “I have to warn them.”

Before the commander could run off Deviss stopped him. “Wait. You are still injured and need to operate the computers. Where is the council now? Rex and I can get there. We are better prepared than you are.”

Bailey opened his omni-tool. “Landing Pad THX1138. I'll imform Shepard, if I can reach her.”

After they dropped out a few blocks away from the pad Rex tried to reach Echo or Fives. Only static. “Only hard lines or close-range-comms work.” He said.

 

Ashley escorted the council to their landing pad. Bo-Katan and her NightOwl squad were covering them. Suddenly they heard something landing on their roof. “Cerberus!” Ashley shouted as she pulled out her Carnifex and fired through the roof. “OUT!” Bo went first but stopped when she discovered the destroyed shuttle. When they turned around they met Shepard, his squad and three Cobras. “Shepard is blocking our escape route. She's with Cerberus!” Udina exclaimed. Echo looked at Bo. “Cuyir aruteii. Al'vedre Bailey jor'lekir. Aruteii sheb'urcyin. Sushir: Traat'aliit gar besbe'trayc” [There is a traitor. Commander Bailey confirmed. Traitor has powerful friends. Listen: Your squad is your weapon.] Bo nodded. She understood. As a regular clone Echo might not be fluent in mando'a but he managed to make himself understandable. Making subtle signs her three girls slowly surrounded the council. Ashley aimed at her best friend she considered a sister. “Cerberus is right behind us in the elevator shaft. We go back there we all die. Udina is a traitor. Councilor Valern confirmed it.” Udina looked at her. “I have video material. He opened his omni-tool. “Shepard and her collaborators killed the salarian councilor.” he showed them the video. Then he went to the next terminal. “We are going to die if we stay out here. I will overwrite the lock so we can escape.” Jane aimed at him. “Get away from that terminal!” Ashley stepped into the line of fire. “Everyone calm down. Lower your weapon and let us talk this out like civilized people.” she tried to act diplomatically. “Ash. You know me. Would I use a weapon if I weren't sure?” Jane asked. “We mistrusted Shepard before and that did nit help us. What she says is unlikely but still possible.” The asari councilor said.

Ashley looked at Jane. “I hope I wont regret this.” She turned around and aimed at Udina who was arguing with Tevos. “Councilor Udina, please step away from there.”

Instead Udina took a pistol and held the asari councilor hostage. “Let me go!” The Cobras reacted instantly. They grabbed the turian councilor and pulled him behind their protective armor.

Udina stepped back towards the landing pad where a Cerberus shuttle appeared. He shoved the councilor away and turned to make a break for the vehicle only to crash into a wall of white armor. Looking up through the armored legs he could see the shuttle flying off tailing fire from where the suddenly appearing gunship had hit it. “NO! DON'T LEAVE ME!” Looking further up he went face to face with the business end of a blaster.

“Got you, dirtbag.” Rex said while Deviss hold the man down.

 

In a shuttle the Cerberus-assassin contacted the illusive man. “Udina failed. They captured him. Also this Republic Dogs prevented me from taking the trash out. Hard to believe that they are humans.”

“Still we have to acquire one of the Republic to dissect their technology and use it to advance humanity.”

 

Bly used his makrobinokular to spot the Geth hunter. Dismantling the robot he gave Tali and John valuable time to hack into the ship. Now the two engineers tried to localize the source of the signal. Their plan to board the ship was good especially when during the boarding Yularen noticed that the shields are strong. Nonetheless the Defender kept on firing to keep the Geth occupied.

Galle and Barr covered the sides while Inc used his stealth to take out more geth. Bly reloaded his rifle. A plasma bolt hit his cover, leaving burned metal behind. He rolled over behind a pillar and fired at another Hunter. The four clones held the geth back while Tali and John hacked the emergency system.

Sirens filled the air. Warnings of a fire and the gun overheating filled the corridors as they retreated through a maintenance shaft. The shaft ended at a lift. Instead of using it they sent it up with no one on board. Luckily they were right. Two Geth came out of hiding and destroyed the platform wth their rocket launchers. Why they didn't simply shut it down was beyond logic but which living being could understand a machine? Apart from David Archer. Inc checked his minigun. He hated war. As far as he understood the morning war the quarians simply got afraid from the Geth's advance that they wanted to destroy them. The Geth simply defended themselves. The two groupes co-existed peacefully until the quarians attacked again.

 

Erik threw Udina into the interrogation room. Bailey and Jane would interrogate him in the good cop, bad cop manner. Erik shook his head. Udina was definitely a power-hungry selfish human. So petting his ego and threatening him would most likely lead to results.

In another part of the Citadel Deviss and the K-platoons began investigations of left over Cerberus-tech and help the people. He overheard two people talking about a rouge C-SEC officer.

“Distract C-SEC. I will then go for the kill.” Deviss stopped the woman before she could reply. “Don't.” His voice left no room for arguments. It probably helped that he wore his full intimidating armor. His way took him to the next C-SEC office. He looked around. Two officers were arguing about the way they should handle the war. The officer on duty sat at his desk. The only man not fitting in was an old man sitting in the waiting corner. “Captain Aaron Sommers?” Deviss asked after his facial recognition program gave him the profile.

“A clone. You are famous across the galaxy by now, commander.” The captain replied after looking at the rank sign on the clone's chest. For better recognition the Cobras decided to openly wear their ranks when they are not on the battlefield.

“Now I know what happened to my back-up.” Deviss folded his arms across the chest plate. “Assume I don't know what you plan. Care to elaborate?”

“A C-SEC officer has collaborated with Cerberus. He backstabbed a lot of his colleagues to get Cerberus on board the Citadel undetected. Now he exchanges information for a lighter sentence. As a former alliance member he has dishonored the uniform. I am only going to rectify that.”

Deviss hold a hand out to stop him. “No. What sentence he earns is not for us to decide. We need an unbiased opinion to do that. I don't say that I like it but if we go on killing everyone we deem guilty wouldn't that make us just as bad as Cerberus? Captain. From a fellow officer to officer. You are better than that. Don't dishonor the uniform yourself to rectify another's wrongdoing.”

The clone could see that his words changed something in the alliance veteran. “Yes. I see. Well I will take my leave then. Commander, you should go into politics.”

Deviss shook his head. Leaving the area he met a woman. “Commander? Officer Jordan Noles. E-Crimes division.”

 

Coric and Kix were helping at the Huerta-Hospital. Some nasty cases were not treated due to the lack of experience by the doctors. The clone medics introduced bacta to them. It was not as fast aas medi-gel but it covered a larger range of injuries. They treated a woman with chemical burns. Two Pelta-ships were ordered back so the Bacta-tanks on board could be used.

Both clones kept their helmets on as they worked on the wounded so no one could see their desperate faces. They had lost a lot of patients but had saved others. Thane was one of them. His condition was critical. Ahsoka's force healing had repaired his respiration system but the wound was deep and had cut through his spine. Even if he survived he would probably never walk again. However a doctor named Michel was enthusiastic. An implant could relay the neural signals. It was still an experimental project but with nothing else Thane had agreed to be the guinea pig.

Coric was washing the bood off his chest plate when a call came in. The caller ID was Deviss. “Commander?”

“Sergeant. E-Crime has asked for our assistance. Batarian codes are being used. However there are no authorization. I'm sending you a file. Check the terminals in your vicinity and look of you find something.”

 

At the same time Hardcase got the same message. His team was patrolling through the embassies.

Apart from a C-SEC officer who needed the newest encryption from Cerberus and an Asari who looked for a Reaper code to calculate their next target they had nothing. While Jesse controlled a terminal Tup found blood on the ground. It was volus blood. With Hardcase he entered the room. While he used the terminal he found out that the Volus Korlack collaborated with Cerberus. Remembering a report he accessed the spectre terminal again. Since their heroic actions the Council had voted to give the Cobras access as they were a neutral party but not the rank of spectres.

A mission was logged in to investigate Korlack as he was linked to an ambush on a turian cruiser by Cerberus.

Hardcase found a bug and had Jesse hack into the frequency.

 

Talon squad was still in the refugee camp. They were repairing the medi-gel dispensers. Some one had sabotaged them. Behind them Doctor Chakwas negotiated a deal with Tactus, the new leader of the refugees. After fighting with the clones the turian agreed to the deal and had two of his men transport the military goods to the Normandy and take medical supplies back to help the doctors. Some humans from the Citadel arrived to help claiming to have been sent down by Commander Jane Shepard.

Sergeant Green was repairing the last medi-gel dispenser when he noticed a batarian using a nearby terminal. He remembered the log Deviss sent to all units. Batarian codes were used illegally.

He lifted his rifle. “Hey, you there. Hands in the air and one step back from the console. The batarian slowly turned around and aimed his pistol at the clone. “I am Ka'hairal Balak.I am the last of the batarian hegemony. We batarians were practically destroyed by the Reaper. I had to hack the council's communication to at least know how to save my fleet.”

“Yeah. Look. We don't know what your problem is but you could have asked us nicely. We Cobras don't leave anyone behind.”

“I will personally see that support gets to the batarians.” a new voice said. Green looked around and saw Lieutenant James Vega. He and Kaidan were pulled out from the Republican fleets as they were familiar enough with this galaxy. Kaidan was away down in the rooms and stepped in for Shepard who went for a stroll in the Presidium.

Jane walked down the area. She had spoken to an officer about Cerberus turrets. She overheard a salarian looking for a way to help the krogans by cloning an ancient race of war animals when someone called her over the comm. “Commander Shepard? EDI here. Clones have tracked a volus ambassador who was linked to Cerberus to an apartment close to you. Verbal recognition revealed Zaeed as one of the bounty hunters. I hacked the line and tricked them into believing that you were already looking for the volus and would be knocking at their door.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “Next time just tell me.”

She went to the apartment EDI pointed out. Opening the door she found Zaeed, two knocked out bounty hunters and a frightened volus.

“Zaeed. I didn't know you were still kicking.”

“Shepard. You should know me. Everything that hurts Cerberus is my thing.” the old bounty hunter greeted her.

“Still the bad cop?” she joked.

 

Kaidan looked down at Udina. Apparently Jane had played bad cop with him and know the councilor was on the brink of breaking down.

“Now. Who was your contact? Answer or I will see if I can get Shepard back here while Major Alenko and I get us a coffee.” Bailey said as he got closer to the door and opened them.

Udina flinched. “NO! DON'T! I WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!” The two men turned towards him. “The assassin is Kai Leng. He said that the key for victory would be on the Citadel but Cerberus had no means to get here. Not with Shepard and their crew going in and out. They wanted a moment where they were away for a longer term and then attack. But we didn't count on the one clone unit being here. They were stronger than we expected.” Udina confessed.

“Well. You should have expected that especially from people bred to fight.” Kaidan said.

 

One of those “breds” was currently informing the doctor in the refugee camp of the repaired dispensers. “Thank you. I will immediately have the critical patients treated. It's a shame we didn't catch the saboteur. It must have happened during that damn cerberus propagandist.”

Jane entered. After the interrogation of the volus she felt like visiting the refugees especially when there were talks about a wounded batarian terrorist. Promising the reporter Solik Vass to get pictures she entered the camp. She overheard what the doctor said to the clone and knew what it was about. “I will take care of it.” She assured them. She asked Green of he had some pictures from the fight to give to the reporter. The clone promised to speak to the salarian. He offered to take of the batarian since he knew of one hooked up to a machine to keep him alive.

She spotted the person she was looking for in a corner. “Conrad Verner. The most real Shepard imposter in this galaxy.” “Commander Shepard! It's a pleasure to meet you again. I hope you and your brother are doing well?”

“John is fine. I am fine, too. Listen. I heard you work for Cerberus?” Jane answered.

“Yes. I mean its what you did when we last met. My contact told me to try to gain followers here.”

Jane shook her head. “Do you even know what happened here? Cerberus attacked the Citadel. This whole chaos is their doing.” She showed him the pictures of Cerberus during the fight and other recordings from earlier like the Mars Archive.

Conrad shook his head. “No. What have I done?” He placed his head in his hands and sobbed.

“I just wanted to help.” Jane grabbed him. “Only if you happen to know about a dark-energy device?” she asked annoyed. “Well, I did write my doctoral dissertation on xenotechnology and dark energy integration.” While Jane and Conrad worked on deciphering the old schematics Green talked to the salarian reporter. “Commander Shepard sent me. She told me you needed footage from the fight?” “Yes, yes. People need to know that even the refugees take part in this war. That will show them how close the war already got and that they need to do something.”

The clone sergeant gave him a datapad. “Here. Take these. It's a collection which do not contain classified information.” The salarian copied the pictures and videos and handed the pad back. “Thank you. This will make my job easier.” Green looked after the salarian. It remembered him of the Gungans. Turning back to the camp he spotted the shuttle pilot of the Normandy, Steve Cortez, at the memorial wall.

“Cortez?” Steve ignored the voice and listened to Robert's last words. For the last time. Tears rolled down. He placed the picture on the wall. “I will always remember you, Robert. I will live for us both.” He stepped back and turned around. “Sergeant Green.” he asked the clone. “You okay, man?” the clone asked worried about a fellow soldier. “I will. Thanks to you all here supporting me.”

 

“Wait, that's him! That's my Cerberus contact. Hey, you! You lied to me! You told me Cerberus would protect the Citadel!” The man looked at him. “What are you talking about. I don't even know you.”

“Commander Shepard is here to arrest you!” Conrad shouted sure of himself. The man pulled a gun and aimed for Jane. As he fired Conrad jumped in front of her. Two clones from the Talon squad, Jane didn't catch their names, knocked the Cerberus man down and restrained him.

She kneed next to Conrad. “Shepard...”He coughed. “Shepard... Did I help?”

Jane checked him for wounds. “Yes, Conrad. You helped.”

“I don't feel anything.” A woman turned to them. “Actually I sabotaged his gun. It looked like it fired but that was actually the thermal clip overheating.” Jane looked up. “Remember me? I'm Jenna. Learned a few tricks while I was undercover.”

“See Shepard, I told you thermal clips would be a step back.” Conrad complained again. Jane smiled. “I know. The clones have already introduced new tech: Thermal clips that cool down.”

But Conrad wasn't listening to her anymore. He and Jenna were talking about things they had in common.

“Commander Shepard?” a voice asked her. “Yes?”

“It's me, Kasumi.” Shepard slowly walked towards the elevator. “How are you doing?” she asked her friend. “Quite well. Do you remember Kenji's box?” Jane nodded. “Go to the embassies. The femtroopers are helping me. Funny girls. I met them in the Purgatory. They surely know how to drink.

“Kasumi!” “Okay, okay. Focusing. Remember the incident of alliance attacking a batarian lab because of reaper tech from the levithan of Dis? According to Keji's greybox the hanar stole the tech and disappeared. I believe that they are indoctrinated. I sent a copy of the thoughts to Bau.”

“You sent?” Jane asked. Kasumi giggled. “More like dropped it when he was behind me.”

She suddenly engaged her cloak while Jane stepped out. In the corner by the hanar embassy a salarian was talking to a female clone.

The clone turned around as Jane approached him. “Commander Shepard? F-666. I am called Devil. This is Jondum Bau. Spectre.

We believe that the Hanar Zymandis is responsible for this. You don't happen to have your prothean here, do you?”

Jane thought about it when she heard a familiar voice behind her. “Most will probably die. But you all are alive and that counts. You are a live and can fight back. You can show the reaper that we cannot be treated like they want. Show them that fate can be changed.”

She knew that voice. Javik was talking to the crowd. A pair of clones consisting of F-007 “Bond” and CT-3899 “Slice” was right behind him. Jane stepped close to him. “Commander Shepard, how is it to work with a prothean?” an asari asked. “It can be very view-changing. Javik is a very experienced fighter. The mix between old and new is a good surprise for the reaper.”

Bond talked to Bau about the other information they extracted. Zymandis was uploading something that was why she borrowed Slice from the recon squad.

The clones prepared to barge in while Shepard filled Javik in. Shepard opened the door and went in. Two humans were leaning against the wall while a hanar was using a terminal.

“Zymandis?” Jane asked. “Or should I say, Regards the Works of the Enkindlers in Despair? You are under arrest. You are under suspicion of being indoctrinated.” Bau added.

“Why are you doing this?” “As you know we hanar worship the protheans. The protheans turned into the collectors who again served the reaper. As a servant of the protheans I also have to serve the reaper in the long run.”

Kasumi whispered to Shepard. “You know, I support religious freedom for all species, but that's just crazy!“

“The hanar homeworld defense are mostly automated and can be shut down by a single virus which I have just up loaded.” Zymandis explained.

“Wait. A virus can only be uploaded undetected on unimportant lines and those have a delay. Maybe I can...” Bau couldn't continue as a human strangled him.

“Help him, I'm on it!” Kasumi shouted as she jumped over the table and began to hack the terminal.

“Damn. There's a fail safe. I need another one on that terminal.” Kasumi shouted as he pointed at the console next to hers. Slice reacted immediately and accessed the terminal. While he delayed the virus further by sending it across unused grids Kasumi worked on deleting it. The two humans Shepard shot Zymandis while Bond and Devil knocked the human attackers out. Bond restrained the one attacking Bau while Devil wrestled the second one onto the ground and sat onto him.

“Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean you can have your way with me.”

“Okay, it is done.” Kasumi said as she finished hacking. Suddenly Slice knocked her down. “BOMB!”

The detonation shook the office. Bau stood up again and looked at the prone form of Kasumi and Slice. “She was here all the time.”

“You are not going to arrest her. She just saved the hanar homeworld.”

Bau seemed to think about it. “We are at war. I think I can overlook her crimes if she agrees to help in the war.”

“I am not going on another suicide mission for you, Shepard!” Kasumi shouted as Slice helped her up.

“Well the crucible needs tech experts like you. On the other hand I think Slice here would like to have you with him on his missions.”

Kasumi didn't know what Shepard meant until she noticed that her hand was still in Slice's. She felt that he had already released her but she was still holding onto him. “Okay. I will help. Give my a squad and I will see what tech I can get you can't reach.” Kasumi sighed.

“Just talk it out with Captain Rex. It is his squad you're taking.” Shepard replied.

 


	5. Rannoch

**Save the quarians**

 

John deactivated the main cannon. They used it to get through to the main reactor where Tali had spotted the source of the Reaper upgrades. Suddenly behind them the maintenance openings began to close. “Move it!” Aayla shouted. They jumped through the last opening. Bly tripped and fell. Aayla reached out and pulled him through before the bulkhead slammed shut. “Thank you, General.” “The second time already, Commander.” Both stared at each other.

The twi'lek teased him. “Incoming!” Galle shouted and broke the moment. His minigun hammered bolts into the lines of Geth. John, Garrus and Inc sneaked onto the catwalk and sniped from there while Tali covered them with her shotgun. Barr threw a droid popper towards the geth. The shock let them collapse. “Keelah. What was that?” Tali exclaimed. “Droid Popper. EMP-stun grenades.” Inc explained. “Fries unprotected circuits and shuts them down. From what I understood about the geth we take out their platforms and wipe their software on it out.”

Under the cover of his general's lightsaber Bly moved out and flung down prone to skid a short distance like a penguin. From his prone position he shot two Geth before standing up again.

“Troopers to me!” he shouted as he waved them forward. Inc swung himself over the railings and landed below. His armored boots clacked against the ground as he caught his fall and turned it into a roll. Galle marched forward with his minigun firing. He noticed a light shimmer in the air and conentrated at it. It was like the laser hammered a Geth out of nowhere. Two shots grazed his armor and he took cover again. Checking the charge on his weapon he decided to reload early. Under the cover of the clones laser fire John, Garrus and Tali moved to the shaft connecting the cannon with the drive core. Giving Cover fire themselves they enabled the clones to link up with them again. Aayla threw her sword at a hidden Geth. While she directed the sword through the air she jumped the remaining distance across the room to Bly. Her beautiful arc of flight had Bly stunned as he made room for her to land. He added her agility to the list of reasons why he loved her.

The number of Geth they encountered shrank with each level they got closer to the drive core. At a few terminals John and Tali hacked it to get a sight of the battle outside.

“Admiral Tali'Zorah?...Koris...c-crash...help...”

“Damn it. Every time you need EDI, she isn't here.” Barr checked his ling-range equipment. “Defender, this is Lieutenant Barr. We received a transmission but it was full of static. Can you relay it again?”

A green light flashed on his com-link. “Admiral Zorah. What is your status? The Geth are decimating us. The star-destroyers fell back on boosting their shields against the anti-ship-cannon on Rannoch. We have lost Admiral Koris. He took a hit and crashed his ship into the cannon! We need help!”

John hacked a bulkhead. “Tell them we are at the source. Reaper-code will be offline soon.”

Barr forwarded the message before he grabbed his DC-15S again.

The drive core was impressive. It was double the size of the Normandy's drive core and that one was supposed to me installed on an Alliance dreadnought. Tali used a console to expose the upper part of the core. John looked up. “Legion?” The Geth was bound with tubes sticking out from its body. “Shepard-Commander. Creator Tali'Zorah. Help us.”

Tali looked around. “Can't you free yourself?” “We are blocked by hardware we cannot access. The controls are on the other side of this room.” The complete group went the way Legion directed them. John found the controls and deactivated the blocks. The tubes detached and Legion jumped down. The core lit up and died down. “Thank you. As a sign of good-will we have deactivated the dreadnought's drive core. Shields and weapons are offline.” Suddenly the lights flared red. “Warning. Geth reinforcements inbound. Warning.” The clones immediately seeked cover as the first hostile geth dropped from the ceilings. Aayla activated her lightsaber and attacked first. Leading her men through the enemy she protected them by blocking shots, cutting though geth or redirecting rockets with the force. A geth prime blocked their path but both Tali and John hacked it so it attacked its own robots. The Geth's pulse cannon cut through the unsuspecting AIs. As soon as the Geth regained control it was hailed by blaster fire as the clones focused on it. It was Garrus who finally killed it by a sniper round through the eye.

Climbing over the wreck they met Legion at the Reaper device. Suddenly the ship trembled. “What was that!” Barr shouted. Tali listened to her comm. “Gerrel is attacking!”

He opened the channel for the others to listen in. “Han!” That was Raan. “Look at your scanners, Raan. The shields and weapons are down! We can take it!” “All destroyers, cease fire! Reinforce shields!” That was Yularen.

“That bosh'tet! We are still in here!” Tali shouted.

“No time! We need to get out of here!” John shouted. “Follow us. The fighter bay is close. We can use on of them to escape the imminent destruction.” Legion said in an indifferent voice.

The group didn't wait and followed Legion through the bulkhead. An explosion ripped the way apart and left them rolling down towards the lower level. “Shepard-Commander. Fighters launch from the upper level. We cannot leave until you regrouped with us.” The next explosion took the gravíty generators out. The clones immediately activated the magnetic boots to stay on the fighter. Bly grabbed his general around he waist and hold her close. Tali was about to hover away when Legion grabbed her and directed her towards the fighter's cargo hold. Bly shoved Secure into there, too. “Go. We can stay out here. Our armor will protect us.” “As you which, Bly-Commander.” Legion launched the fighter out into the space. “Admiral Yularen. Do not target the fighter with us clones on its hull.” They turned around and headed towards the open hangar bay of the Venator.

After being checked in the med-bay and changed into more comfortable clothes John went up to the bridge. The quarian admirals were already there. Han'Gerrel was in a heated argument with Admiral Yularen. “I could have you executed for treason!” “The mission parameters have changed. We had a shot at the dreadnought and we took it.” Raan shook her head. “Even if Shepard and Tali were still on board?” Gerrel noticed Shepard. “The dreadnought took out a lot of quarians. We had to destroy it. As a commanding officer who fought the Geth your surely understand.”

John looked the Admiral in the eye until the quarian broke contact. “I only understand that you didn't take the opportunity to withdraw your fleet safely and endangered all our lives.”

“I was only...” He stooped and reached for his neck. They turned around to see Aayla holding her hand like she chocked someone. “I normally don't do things like this. Revenge isn't the path of the light.” She used the force to hold Gerrel on her height. “Do never risk my men's lives like that again or I will, may the force forgive me, kill you myself.”

Bly wasn't too sure if she said man or men. His line of thought was interrupted when Legion was escorted in by Galle and Barr.

“Shepard-Commander. We wish to help you.” Xen looked at the Geth. “Impressive. A prototype of a Geth consensus.” “Legion is my friend. He helped us before against the reaper.” Shepard explained.

“It. It helped us.” Tali corrected him.

Xen seemed to want to remark but the aura radiating from General Secura let her think otherwise.

A call came in through the terminal. The responsible clone redirected the call to the main holo-table.

Aria and Jane appeared. “John. Hello, Tali.” Jane greeted them. “Jane. What's up?”

“I need your help. After the attack of the Citadel Cerberus is weakened. I have to use this. My fleet is already assembled. And I want you Shepard-twins to help with the ground offensive. I also have the Citadel Strike Team as they call themselves.” Aria explained bluntly.

“General Tano, Captain Rex and the Lieutenants Echo, Fives and Winston. They are the remaining members of the original Team.” Bly explained.

“What about my crew on the Normandy?” John asked. “They are on smaller runs. Ashley and Liara will deal with an Asari-Problem with the Night-Owls. Kaidan, Garrus and Javik will be sent with the Rangers to Arrae. Ex-Cerberus have called for help. I think it's Jacob. James will hold the line at the Citadel. K9 will be sent to help on Rannoch.” Jane said. Deviss appeared in the line. “K1 and K9 will help the quarians while the remaining K-Company will evacuate the Elcor. Also a fuel depot has gone offline. A joint task force consisting of the remaining 501st and an N7-engineer team will investigate and bring it back online.”

“How long?” John asked but just then a Cerberus ship arrived in front of their view screen.

“Wow. I heard these star destroyers were big but I didn't expect a dreadnought.” Aria gasped and lost her composure for a second. “What we call a dreadnought would be triple the size of this.” Bly remarked.

After the exchange Aayla called a meeting on the bridge. John and Garrus were gone. Now Daviss had joined their circle.

Legion uploaded something. “Secura-General. We haven't located the reaper-base yet but we have the coordinates to a server coordinating the Geth-Fighter.”

Aayla looked over the plans. “I will go with you, K1 to secure it.” “General! Do you really trust this machine?” Aayla sighed. “Commander Shepard trusts it. I will do the same.” Bly shook his head. A jedi always would follow orders. Thinking of orders he sighed. Like all clones he had received a certain order recently. However he refused to follow it. After a long secret talk with his fellow brothers they agreed not to execute it. Luckily their units didn't contain any Centax-clones. But at some point he had to tell the jedi. At least before they returned after wiping Cerberus off this galaxy.

General Secura opened a plan. “We don't know exactly where Admiral Koris landed. The debris field is spread along this path. I want K9 ready to move in.”

“What about the jamming towers. We can't locate him as long as they are intact and with the anti-air turrets I doubt you can save all of them.” Bly looked at the layout of the terrain. “One small commando team. We take out the AA-batteries, then the gunships can move in and begin the search until we figure a way to disable the towers. I can do it with my squad. However we need an expert on that tech.” “I will follow you. Someone has to help with Geth-Tech.” Tali said.

Admiral Yularen looked at the Geth defense. “We can distract them with a random bombardment on the dreadnought. Our gunships can cross a short distance in space without harm. ARC-170s will break through and the Y-Wings will cover you.”

 

Ashley checked the engine of the skycar they found at the monastry. “It's still warm. Someone has just arrived here.” Bo-Katan looked around. “I don't like it here. Reeks like death.”

One of her owls checked the elevator. “It's deactivated. We have to fly in.”

The mando woman nodded. “Kat, May. Help Miss Williams and T'soni down there.” The two Owls nodded and grabbed the two women. Together they jumped down into the darkness and activated their jetpacks. They arrived in a room. “Night Owls, move out. I want this room checked and salvaged.” Bo belled. The Owls found a lot. Credits, a signature of a matriarch and dead reaper.

“Skids, check the asari.” The team's medic kneed down and examined the body. “Asari commando. Died of blood loss. Two days ago.”

“Room is clear, Ma'am.” an owl reported. Lieutenant Moons. Bo remembered. After their separation from the Sith super-commandos she had become the new leader of death watch. The first female leader ever. Moons had been promoted to Lieutenant afterwards.

The second room was empty but a commotion underneath them got their attention. “Spread out! Search every room for survivors. Kill any reaper you come across.” She ordered. Liara already went through the next set of doors and ended on a balcony. Below them a reaper was flung against a pillar which collapsed onto it. Another Asari. Moving gracefully entered the room. “Liara.” “Samara.” Liara said.

 

Kano fired at a Cerberus trooper. It has been confusing for their allies to understand if the clones talked. Along with the jedi the clones had decided to adapt the UST system. Especially now that after refusing to follow Order 66 they could be considered traitors to the republic. Now they used Cobras as an overall term. Otherwise the 327th called themselves Berets, after a terran special force which existed back in the 21th century. The 501st were the Deltas. One the one hand after the infamous Delta squad but on the other hand after the terran Delta Force.

“Deltas pinned down. How are you faring, Captain Riley?”

“Husks have taken one of my men. But we have managed to seek cover in a dead end. Thanks for the heads up on those Barrier Engines. Could be worse of we hadn't destroyed them. Boomer sniped the Marauders running towards them on the ceiling. If the shot didn't kill them the following fall certainly did. Slice hammered on the controls to get the reactor back online.

“Damn it! Captain! We nee to activate them at the same time!” he shouted into his comms.

“Wait. Yes I can do it now.” “NOW!” Slice pressed the button. The cooling system went online. Now he could reach the master switch and activate the fuel reactors.

Suddenly Riley commed them again. “We're pinned down! Seems like the reaper see us as the easier prey and converse on our location!” Kano didn't need to hear more to know what was about to happen. “Devil, Bond! Pack up and change locations. Cover Riley.” He looked at his fellow ARF-trooper. “Boomer, go help them. We all know you're a one-man-army. Boomer nodded as he jumped over a tank to get to the second reactor faster.

Slice worked on the controls. “There is some kind of interference in the reactor. Not critical at the moment but it could shut the reactor down if it reaches working temperature.”

“Can you get rid of it.” Slice looked at his sergeant. “I can.” He opened the reactor bulkheads and fired his blaster into it. Kano was surprised until he saw the “interference.” A brute and two marauders hid in the reactor. The both fired at the marauders and took them out. Kano saw a familiar structure over the shoulder of the brute and fired at it. The Barrier Engine exploded, taking out the second Marauder and damaging the brute immensely. Slice switched to stun for a second before switching back. The brute lost control over itself as the stun hit and it was an easy target for the two clones.

Bond aimed her sniper rifle. Two husks tried to ambush the alliance team but she quickly disposed of them. Next to her Devil used a Zip-Quad blaster to kill the larger brutes. Her modified gunner helmet assisted in targeting and ballistics. Both fired a constant stream of laser into the reaper. On one part of the circle Boomer broke through with an aimed charge from his rocket launcher. While the Support-Twins gave cover fire he led the engineers out of the killzone. “We're clear. Get the party started. The two fem-troopers didn't have to get the order twice. Both were proud to belong to the 501st and attacked. Devil kept his mobile artillery on while Bond swapped to a Z-6. For a sniper trained in the delicate arts of precise sniping she loved the minigun even more for its hammering. Boomer looked to the side at Riley. “You have to excuse them. They haven't seen as much action as most clones do. They were part of a secret army and were in the reserves in that unit. We just recently learned about their existence and decided to take them with us.”

“How can they behave like children while killing reaper?” Riley asked unbelieving the scene in front of her. Boomer escorted her back to the entrance. “How old do you think we clones are?”

“I dunno. Twenty-five?” “Close. Biologically we are about twenty six. Chronically we are twelve.”

“What!”

 

Kaidan landed on the ice planet and engaged the troopers. Behind them the clones attacked in numbers. Cerberus was surprised and was taken down by the ambush. FV-22s hovered around the base. Three Gepards AA-tanks were deployed to clear the skies of Cerberus fighters. Kelly helped the wounded while the Rangers entered the base. The scientists helped the best way the could. Morgan was clearing a cache as he met a man. “Morning, Sir.” he greeted. “Hello. Galvin Archer. Ex-Cerberus.” “Did you say Archer?” Morgan asked. “Indeed I did. Is there something?”

“Yes. You heard about the Cerberus attack on the Grissom Academy, I assume?” “Oh God! Commander Shepard sent my brother there. Is he okay.” Galvin gasped. Margan nodded. “We got him out. He is working with the alliance now. I had to promise him to get him his brother. I don't know what happened between you two but he told me to tell you that he forgave you. What you did was... eye-opening was what he said.”

“Oh thank you. That really relieves me.” He looked down. “You should know that in a Cerberus-Project I abused him as a test subject. Not a night has passed since then where I didn't dream about what happened and what I have done to him. From now on I will be the big brother he deserves.”

Outside Garrus and Jacob were catching up. “You really did that?” Kaidanasked as the two shared a tale about the Shepards and Legion. Jacob nicked him. “Yeah. You never heard the story of Jane sleep talking did ya?” “No.” “It was always Kaidan this, Kaidan that and 'no, not Kaidan'.”

“That must have been one of a crash you made, didn't you?” Kaidan contered.

The crash threw them all off balance. Aria had miscalculated. Petrovsky had upgraded Omega's defense. They had evacuated their ship and hit the station with escape pods. Rex shook his head to clear his vision. Troopers were closing in on them but Echo and Fives had already the lock covered. Erik checked on a vorcha before declaring him dead and throwing the dropped shotgun to Aria. “You'll need it.” before he fired at the troopers. Ahsoka jumped over the railing and engaged the Guardians as their shields were able to hold the shots off. Jane and John flanked Cerberus left and right while Aria plowed through the middle. “I'm back!” she shouted. Clearing the crash site was the easiest part. Echo and John worked on hacking the blast doors while Erik and Fives took cover behind the rails guiding the door. As soon as the blast door began to lower Ahsoka jumped through the opening. Rex was concerned about her as he heard screams from the other side. As soon as he could he jumped over it prepared to help his girlfriend... Only to find her in the middle of smoking corpses. >>You know I'm not a little girl anymore<< Rex shook his head. >>What?”<<

“Mind speak. Happens to closely bonded people.” Erik stood next to him. “How do you know?”

“Catherine and me? General Tano had the same expression Catherine used to have when she did it the first times.”

Aria already entered the next corridor. With John and Jane right behind her she attacked the Cerberus Engineers. They cut through the mob and while Aria activated the environmental controls for the next area John and Jane covered her. Centurions began to attack.

Fives beat the closest Nemesis down and fired his rifle into her chest. Beside him Echo fired his CS-6 Assault into Cerberus. Erik skipped over a crashed skycar and planted both feet into the Centurions back. As they fell he fired two shots at the head and used the corpse as cover against revenge shots. Rex rolled over and flanked the guardian attacking Shepard while his second gun killed the nemesis concentrating on Erik.

Finally the environmental control finished whatever it was doing. The next room had a crashed escape pod in it. “Poor bastards.” Aria said. But she sounded more sad over the loss of cannon-fodder than the loss of lives.

Before she could open the next set of doors Erik stopped her. “This is the control room?”

“Yes. Now release me!”

Erik shoved her back to John and Jane. “Cobras, breach and clear. Distraction 3.” Ahsoka ordered.

The clones nodded. Fives grabbed a thremal detonator, Erik prepared a flashbang and Echo had a smoke grenade ready. Rex planted the breach charge and waited. At the opening the grenades flew into the room. The thermal killed all the enemies right next to the door. The flash disoriented the others while the smoke made them invisible for a few seconds. Blastes firing the clones charged against the group.

Taking cover they left the middle clear for Jane and Aria to attack and combine their biotic powers into explosions. Aria and Jane both fired a flare which hit a guardian from two sides. The explosion was strong enough to throw the engineers down where they were an easy target for John to take out.

John accessed the controls but instead of deactivating them he used the turrets. “What are you doing?” Aria exclaimed. “Killing Cerberus. Come on. You two had your fun.” he said seriously. Then he deactivated the weapons. Aria directed her fleet to the secret dock. But before she could say where it was Ahsoka covered her mouth. “What the hell! Get your filthy hand out of my face!”

A shot stopped the dispute. Aria looked at the source. Rex had fired his pistol into what seemed like a camera. The Cobras were doing the same with the other cameras in the room.

“Now you can reveal your secret.” Jane said.

 

Deviss watched the tower in the distance collapse. “Comms are back online. I want to know where the survivors are!” he shouted.

“Sir, I have something. Boosting signal now!”

“Hello, Dorn? Are you there?”

“Admiral Korris? Commander Deviss. Dorn is on a MedEvac. His condition is critical. We don't know enough about quarians to help him. We dumped him in bacta but I don't know if it's going to help.”

“Keelah. You need to save my crew. We got separated. I don't know how many survived. I managed to regroup some of them but when I set off to find more my escort got killed by Geth. They might have attacked the civilians, too. You need to save them!”

“Give me the coordinates.” Deviss looked at the screen. He received a location but that wasn't anywhere near the place the Admiral's Signal roughly came from.

“Sir, I need both coordinates.” he urged.

“No. You can't reach both locations on time. Save my crew.” Deviss opened the map. “We have enough gunships on scene. I need your location to send the next to you! My platoon is already moving in to get your crew but we need you! Someone has to lead the civilian fleet.”

Silence. “Uploading coordinates.” Deviss could hear the grateful sigh. “Bly, Zaal'Koris is three clicks from your position. Can you make it?” “Already rallying there. What about the crew?” “K9 is already on it.”

 

Zaal looked up and saw the Geth converging on him. The guns had long ago run out of ammo and he was down to his pistol. A Geth got close and knocked him over. Just as the Prime aimed its cannon green laser bolts hit its chest. Zaal looked around. Behind him a vehicle hovered in the air and fired at the Geth. The two bubbles on the wings fired constant beams.

The side doors opened and he saw a group of clones. “Come in!”

As he ran towards it rockets soared past him towards the gunship. However the pilot was skilled enough to avoid a hit. Just as Zaal jumped on board the pilot pulled away. The sudden movement caused him to loose balance and he nearly fell out again if Tali hadn't grabbed him and pulled him in. “How's my crew?” was his first question. “Bly held a hand to his ear part and listen to an intern comm. “Deviss got them all out. They also found the few remaining around the crash site. I guess we got about eighty people out.”

“Keelah. I had worried that we might not make it.”

Bly nodded. “Admiral. The fleet needs your guidance. If Gerrel goes on a Revenge trip again we need people to stop him. I know we can count on Admiral Zorah but I'm certain we can count Xen out. I don't know where Admiral Raan stands. But a tie is better than a loss.”

Zaal nodded. “The Civilian fleet doesn't want this war. If that's the way to peace I will gladly turn my back on the fleet and withdraw from the fight.”

Bly understood the Admiral. Hard choices. He made one with Order 66 and won't regret it.

 

Aayla looked through the server. So far they had cleaned most of it of Reaper influence. She had seen the memories stored by the Geth. She understood why the Geth waged war as they had and why they turned to the reapers. She certainly understood Legion. Geenine was with her. It was somehow different to see her astromech as a humanoid being next to her.

Geenine had a female programming. Most droids programming was identical to the gender of their first owner. G9's appearance resembled Secura's. Having the astromch helping her was great. As R4-G9 had accessed the quarian database she could help translate the Geth memories into visual holos for her master. They had just destroyed the last link when Legion called them back. Geenine beeped. Aayla had to hold back a giggle. It was somehow funny to see herself communicating with astromech sounds.

Slowly the light on the server vanished. “Secura-General. Go back into your pod. G9 and I will join you on the other side.

Aayla opened her eyes. Two clones helped her out. Suddenly the platoon surrounding her lifted their weapons. Geth Primes had exited their pods but didn't lift their weapons.

“Stand down.” she ordered. The clones still aimed their blasters but had their trigger discipline up.

“Legion, what is this?” “These programs have joined us. They oppose the old machines. They are now we.”

“You checked them?” “We did.” “I was talking to Geenine.” The astromech whooped in approvement. She had checked the Geth. Everything was fine.

“Well, we saved the lifeships and got more Geth on our side. Win-win situation in my textbook.” She turned around to the next clone trooper. “Make sure they find accommodation on board our ships. Don't know how the quarians will see it.”

%MCEPASTEBIN%


	6. Freedom

**Freedom**

 

The Rangers salvaged the whole outpost. They had found a lot of useful things. Two projects were concerned about poisoning alien races. These could be used to created a cure for the victims. Also the scientists could help with the crucible. Catherine went down to the hangar to oversee the arrival of the refugees. Since they also brought their own shuttles she had decided to keep them and repaint them for the UST. The A-model kodiaks were stealthier than the FV-22s but had lower-graded armor and weaponry. The Red Montana concentrated on the evacuation while the NRW moved out to intercept an incoming Cerberus fleet.

“We have to hurry! Get everyone on board! We are leaving in five!” Catherine shouted as she made her way to the bridge.

Her gunners were already working on targeting solutions to punch a hole into the enemy formation.

The NRW would fire a broadside to clear a way for the Red Montana and vice versa. They would meet at the Crucible.

 

Ashley watched the asari-reaper attacking. She was frozen in her place, fear purging though her body. A small part of her remembered her training. Ashley pulled the trigger. She emptied the whole clip into the reaper's womb. The Night-Owls attacked with rockets and lasers. They had little effect against the strong biotic barriers these banshees had. Only concentrated fire could kill them. But then they were exposed to the Cannibals. A second Night-Owl squad dropped from the sky. One landed on top on a Banshee and jumped away, just as an explosion ripped the reaper apart. The fresh reinforcements relieved the team and gave them an opening to enter the monastry.

On the inside a Banshee was pursuing an Asari. However before the reaper could get her another Asari killed it. “Mother?” “Falere.” the girl said. While Ashley and Liara watched the reunion Bo and her night owls continued to confront the reaper. In the next room a marauder and a few Cannibals blocked their way. A sniper round killed the marauder but the Cannicals lived up to their name and used their fallen to create additional armor. As if that wasn't bad enough a beam shot across the wall and encased them in a barrier. “Moons, keep them busy. May with me. There is a Barrier Engine somewhere.” They hadn't have to look far. Just in a sideroom the Barrier Engine was mounted at the wall. Two aimed shots destroyed it so the reaper couldn't replenish their barriers. Also the room they were in had two entrances. Bo used the second one to flank the reapers. Caught in the deadly crossfire of furious mando women they were quickly obliterated. On the stair to the lower level they heard a by now familiar screech. “Banshee. Back up and circle it.” Bo ordered dryly.

 

Ahsoka jumped away from the Rampart mech as Rex shot it. The bolt took the head off and the robot collapsed. Its remaining energy discharged and covered its body. John had hacked one and got it close to its own colleagues. When it was destroyed its discharged fried the other mechs' circuits.E Erik analyzed the shield. “Force field. Anything organic will be fried. We can't go this way.”

Aria scoffed. “I guess its time to show you something.” She opened the door to a garage. As soon as everyone was inside she closed the door again. “One of my secret tunnels. You could go to any place without alerting security.” A hidden door slid to the side and revealed a ladder.

Echo and Fives went first. Rex and Ahsoka followed. John dropped after them with Aria following him. Jane and Erik were the last to go. Arriving they saw Echo and Fives having someone at gun point. “Spirits. Aria T'Loak. I didn't expect you.” “Aria doesn't reveal secrets easily. Either you are her closest friend of Aria gets sloppy.” “I assure you it's neither.” Aria hissed. “Meet Nyreen Kandros. Ex-turian military.”

“Competent enough to keep up? I won't come back if you loose us.” John said. “Oh. I'm more than ready for this.”

The followed Aria through the tunnels. At one point she fired a flare up. The explosion caused a ladder to drop. “Up here.” Erik and Rex climbed up and secured the small room. “Clear.”

The whole group moved up. Aria led them out onto the streets. One step and she crashed into a Rampart mech patrol. “Contact!” Ahsoka shouted as she cut the first mech in pieces. Echo and Fives didn't engage directly and activated jammers first. Rex followed suit. Their rangefinders boosted the jammers to cover all frequencies. John used his disrupter ammo to drop the shields while Jane's shockwave threw the mechs apart so they couldn't defend each other. Aria's shotgun rounds bounced off the holo-armor but laser bolts easily cut through them. Erik reloaded while Echo blasted a mech and kicked it off the platform. Aria activated the turrets and set them on defense mode. “Target all Cerberus Personnel. Authorization Aria Omega Afterlife 69.”

 

After they entered the bunker Aria had it lock down. “Nyreen. You had left Omega. You were quite angry. Why did you come back.” she asked. “I never left. I scouted around. Some needs to keep an eye out for you. After the Cerberus invasion I stayed in the tunnels.”

While the Shepards and Aria were talking about Nyreen Echo and Fives checked the crew, leaving Rex and Ahsoka to themselves.

“Hey, Echo. I could use your help here.” Erik called. Echo was introduced to the hacker who tried to gain control of the station. But at some points hardware blocks had to be lowered by a code. Echo promised to take care of it.

Fives met a batarian. This one needed spare parts that should be on the station. The engineer gave the clone a blueprint to find it. Erik talked to an Elcor. Harrot owed an empire of shops and wants to gain Aria's interest by recovering her throne. The couch has been thrown away when Cerberus captured the Afterlife. In the meantime Aria and the Shepard twins looked at the blueprints of the station. Ahsoka had joined them with Rex.

“These force-fields will limit our possibilities. We have to get around them somehow or deactivate them.” John said. “Also we need support. Your forces have taken casualties. These three groups can't be all you have here, don't you?” Jane asked. Aria was deep in thought. “Well, there are the Talons. Small group when I left. Tried to capture their share thinking I won't notice. They only fight for themselves.”

“Aria!” Bray ran to them. “What is it Bray?” “Nyreen. I was looking away for a second to organize the weapons and when I looked back...” “She was gone.” Aria sighed. “Bray. If I hadn't already lost so many.” Rex looked at the station. “We have to be quick, IF Nyreen is a spy. I'd say we split up and take care of the force-fields and the Talons.” John pointed at some dark areas. “The energy for the fields come from this reactor. We can cut short through this dark areas and shut them off. Team with helmets only.” Ahsoka nodded. “Second team will search the Talon leader. I suggest Aria as she is the queen here. Jane as support since John is occupied and myself.”

“I'll come with you, General. The Lieutenants can escort the Commander to the reactor.”

The three nodded. “It will be done.”

 

Ashley blasted the Banshee. She reloaded the N7Typhoon and threw a grenade. Around her the Nightowls kept the fire up. Two had been ripped apart by the Banshees who could use biotic charges to surprise them. Falere was completely indifferent anout the situation around her. She had only eyes for her fallen sister. “Rila! Wake up!” Samara tried to console her. “It is too late. Rila has begun the transformation into a reaper.” Falere didn't believe her. “NO! There has to be a cure.”

Then the lights on the bomb switched from red to green. “Bomb is online! But we have to trigger it manually!” Liara shouted as she activated her barrier in time to block a Banshee. Rila suddenly shoved Falere down and blasted a reaper with her biotics. In her hand was a remote trigger.

“Rila! Come with us!” Falere pleaded but Rila shook her head. “No. The range is smaller than the detonation range. Go. I don't know for how long I can still resist the call. Go before it is too late.

“You heard her, Nightowls, we're leaving!” The mandos grabbed their allies and used their jetpacks to get away.

“Rila! NOOOO!” They crashed through the windows and headed for the upper atmosphere where their shuttle was waiting. Falere was still trashing but Moons held onto her. “We left her!”

“There was no way to safe her. She chose this end herself.”

“You don't know! If we had taken her, we would have found a cure.”

Bo lost her patience. She slammed Falere against the wall and took off her helmet. “Do you think we didn't test that theory? Don't be selfish and do what pleases you! Rila chose this herself. She died how any mando would have died! Fighting! Defending herself and believing it what is right!”

She threw the Asari down. “Don't think that just because you are an Ardat-Yakshi you can keep to yourself!” The discharge of a thermal clip got her attention. Samara hold her pistol to her head.

“Mum! What are you doing?” “The code doesn't allow you to be outside your monastery. But I won't kill my last daughter.” A shot sounded through the shuttle. Samara fell down clutching her hand. May and Moons restrained her. Ashley lowered her sniper rifle. “Close shot.” Bo nodded impressed.

Falere kneed down beside her mother. “I don't need a monastery to honor the code. It states that I am not allowed to harm people. And I didn't tell you but Rila and I experimented. We found out that if Ardat-Yakshi mate with Ardat-Yakshi we don't kill each other and still enhance our abilities. But it only works once. I don't have a desire to gain more strength because no one but another Ardat-Yakshi who is on my level can give it to me.”

Samara thought about this new development. “Then the code allows you to live. If what you said is true then I wish to fight besides you.” Falere threw her arms around her mother. “Thank you, mum.”

Samara felt the direct contact but her nervous system stayed the same. She could feel her daughters nervous system but no harm was caused.

Bo interrupted their reunion. “We'll drop you off at the Citadel. See what the Spectres need us for.”

 

Admiral Yularen watched the battle unfold in front of him. Legion had discovered the base. At the same time the Geth had regained the reaper upgrade and began to attack again. In the now proclaimed “Ryloth-Shield”-maneuver the star destroyers had presented their bellies to protect the quarian fleet. While the original Venators had a problem since they didn't have weapons on their lower hull apart from the SPHA in their lower hangar the Venator-II-destroyers didn't have that problem anymore. Four turrets of the Red-Montana-class were fitted onto the lower hull. Originally the engineers wanted to fit in eight turrets to match the number on the upper side and thus have the same controls until a terran engineer noticed that each turret had four barrels which could be elevated different from the others and was about double the size of a Venator turret. So instead of 8x2 they decided to make 4x4 in the back below the bridge and fit small turrets from the H-class onto the sides in addition to the ones inside the flank.

A small commando team consisting of Aayla, Bly, Galle, Inc, Barr, Tali and Legion would get in and “paint the target”. The plan was to destroy the base and lure the reaper out. As soon as he did that the four clones would surround it and mark it with their lasers. The gunners could triangulate the target and fire on visual contact.

The Geth had now hacked all frequencies. The only safe line were the clone channels so General Secura decided to transfer all remaining clones from the 327th to the quarian fleet.

 

A hsoka had to fight the strange feeling that over came her. Her team had crossed a lot of tunnels but know they were confronted by Cerberus again. She fought back to back with Rex. The deadly combination of short and long range surprised Cerberus. Next to them Jane and Aria combined their biotic powers to bring the shuttle down. Their powers made the mass effect field collapse, turning the shuttle into a three-million-credit coffin for those who didn't escape.

Aria cracked the lock and over wrote the lockdown. They charged in and aimed at the Cerberus soldier who held Talons hostage.

“Back off, or he will die!” The Cerberus engineer didn't have the chance to make his threat true when an armored figure landed in their midst. The biotic explosion threw them off their feet as the figure shot them with their rifle. 

Standing up Nyreen revealed her face. “Lock this place down and kill any Cerberus you see.” she ordered a Talon. “Yes, Boss.”

Aria was surprised and speechless. “Looks like we found the Talon leader.” Jane said.

 

Aayla crushed the Pyro-Geth with the force while Galle and Inc covered Tali and Barr.

Bly and Legion were on the other walkway towards the elevator A Geth Prime had emerged but Legion had overwritten it within seconds and turned it against the “heretics” as it called the reaper-geth. “Doors unlocked. General, there is a secondary lock. Console is right next to you.” Barr shouted. Aayla jumped over Galle's laser bolts and landed at said console. While the clones moved up to keep the Geth off her back she typed in the codes Tali shouted to her.

“Admiral Yularen! The blast shield is opening. Visual confirmation.”

 

Above them the Defender readjusted its position. Along with the other two Venators its dagger form now faced the planet. “Assault concussion missiles dropping out now. Time to impact, two minutes.”

“Understood, Admiral. We will paint the target. Bly, out.”

 

On the surface the clones had gotten down and surrounded the opening to give the rockets an exact

triangulation. Tali and Aayla were above them, after killing three Geth Primes and aimed their lasers into the hole. Legion had already acquired a transport to get away as soon as the missiles got their target lock.

“Missile lock successful, get out of there.” Deviss radioed in he had followed the missiles in Aayla's personal fighter to make a last check.

The Team watched the fire from the top side mounted cannon.. The rockets soared into the opening and exploded. The whole earth shook but suddenly a shadow towered over them. “The reaper is out! I repeat: The reaper is out!”

While Legion circled around the reaper they slowly jumped off the vehicle in pairs of two. Legion closed the circle, alone. [Well, technically he was a team of over 1200 programs but well.]

“Target painted! Get it before it gets us!” Tali shouted.

The first shot hit the reaper when it was about to fire at Bly. The clone noticed the cracks and lightnings spreading over the robot. “Adjust your shooting! The firing chamber is its weak point!”

The order spread through the clone comms like a wild fire. The gunners adjusted and switched to visual aim. All cannons fired. The rounds formed a single stream which homed in on the reaper.

“Say your last prayer, bosh'tet.” Tali shouted as the reaper took all shots in its firing chamber because it turned to face the fleets.

Bly lifted his mikrobinocular. “Did I just saw that right?”

“Yeah, you did, Boss.” Inc said. “That reaper..” Barr began. “Is dumber than a droid.” Galle finished.

“A more intelligent being wouldn't shove its weak spot into the enemy fire. Even younglings know that.” Deviss said as they regrouped on the plateau overseeing the area where he had landed. Legion watched the reaper dying. The new data he got from this was already being processed and send to the Cobras.

“Reaper not as powerful as they think.”

“We did it. We absolutely did it!” Tali shouted. Legion turned to Aayla. “Secura-General. Do you remember what we told you about the reaper-upgrade? We have processed it. We can distribute it to all the Geth and still remain independent from outside intervention.”

“But then the Geth will be as intelligent as they were under reaper control. Secura, please. The quarians are already attacking and the Geth will kill them. Don't choose a machine over life.” Tali pleaded.

“Legion, do it. Arseven, get me a line up there.” The astromech beeped and Tali's omni-tool had reception. “This is Admiral Tali'Zorah. Cease fire immediately.”

Han'Gerrel intervened. “Delay that order. Keep firing!”

Tali looked over at the Twi'lek. “Please. You have to stop it. Don't choose the Geth over my people.”

Legion continued. “50%. We are sorry about the creators' deaths but we see no alternative that would ensure our continued existence.”

Aayla meditated for a second. In space Admiral Yularen made a decision, too. “All star destroyers, target as many quarian ships as you can. Move to shield the Geth fleet!” “We can still win this war!” Xen shouted. Bly had it with diplomatic decisions. “Legion, continue. All troopers, seize control over the ship you're on. Keep them from firing. Stun shots if necessary. Execute it with the same precision you would have executed Order 66.” Aayla gave him a questioning look and opened her com-link on the open frequency.

“All units stand down. The Geth are back to full power soon and they do not want another war. Do it for you and your people. Keelah se'lai.”

Tali decided to give Aayla's word more support. “This is Admiral Tali'Zorah. General Secura speaks with my authority.” “And mine as well.” Zaal'Koris added from his ship. The clones next to him lowered his weapons as did the others on the civilian fleet as the respective captains gave the stand-down order. “Patrol fleet ceasing fire. We will withdraw from the front line.” Raan acknowledged the order. “All Venators target the quarian heavy fleet.”

One after another the ships of the heavy fleet shut their weapons off and reinforced the shields. Shortly after only Han'Gerrel's ship remained and even his crew was against him. The quarian fleet had ceased fire but they still required an official one for the Geth. “All ships, cease fire and redirect the energy to the shields.” he said weakly.

Admiral Yularen let a sigh escape his lips as he leaned against the table. “Weapons cold. Open the comm channels. Tell the Geth we are standing down.”

Legion was still working on the upload when the package he worked on suddenly flared red.

“Upload failed. Direct distribution necessary. I will have to go.”

“Wait, what are you saying Chatika?” Tali exclaimed. “Okay. Your decision.” She approached Legion while she activated her combat drone.

“Creator Zorah. What is it?” Legion asked. “Chatika has decided to help you Legion. She has decided to do that because she isn't as developed as you are but wants us to be in peace. She wants to replace you. The one that just said 'I'.”

Legion watched the small drone before touching and absorbing it. “Thank you, Chatika. Go with the others. I will keep your memory.”

 

Later the different factions meet on the plateau. Two Geth Primes joined Legion while the quarian Admirals arrived with a large Marine protection detail.

“You really made it. We are on the homeplanet and are at peace with the Geth.” Koris said as he shook Aayla's hand.

“We have to stick together. It's a shame that you needed the reaper to do it but better late than never.” the jedi replied.

“But what do we do now? How are we going to live?” Raan said.

“You are welcomed to return on Rannoch, Admiral. We have maintained the planet's ecological system in case the creators planned on co-existing peacefully with us. We have also scenarios on how to readjust your immune system to this planet. Also our docks are prepared to repair the migrant fleet and upgrade them to the state-of the art technology we have developed from your left-overs.”

“You finished out inventions? Some of them had been stuck for years.” Xen was impressed.

“But these are details, Creator Xen. We have reached consensus that I, Legion will join Shepard-Commander on board the Normandy and assist them in the war-effort.”

“I will come with you Legion.” Tali said. “My skills are batter with the Normandy than the politics here.”

While the new Rannoch Council debated Aayla pulled Bly to the side. “Bly. I have known you now for full two years. I trust you but I have a question. What is Order 66 and why did you say 'would have executed'?”

Bly looked at his feet. “ In the event of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established.”  [[Quoted from Republic Commando: True Colors]]

Aayla jumped back but realized that Bly nor the other clone troopers attempted anything.

“You are not followig the order?”

Bly let out a laugh. “We aren't droids. We make ou r own decision. I fought by your side the whole war.  When Lieutenant Winston found the order in the archive and confronted Rex they decided to spread it among all kaminoan clones we trusted. Mostly only clones who had a trustworthy connection to their jedi Generals. We are now officially not with the Republic anymore.”

“Does Ahsoka know?” Aayla asked. Bly had given her something great. She know knew why she felt the pain but still felt safe around her clone. “She doesn't know. Rex will tell her in time. When we return. The UST has offered to help us. Their system in a bubble that has a natural EMP-field at the edge of it. Only ships with warp-drives are able to cross it unharmed. That is why they crashed in the first place and were only able to get out with UST assistance.”

 

 

 

John killed the guard silently. After crossing the dangerous mining area they had run into a new kind of reaper. As Jane had told them it was an Adjutant. They were hard to kill but they had a weakness because of their size. Their combined fire power forced the reaper back where it fell off the catwalk and down into the mine.  Fives took a hit from the second reaper and it was only for Erik's quick reaction that he now hung from a cable attacked to the Ranger's wrist instead of being a paste on the ground of the mine. Echo had used the chance to power his rifle up and discharge it directly into the Adjutant's face. They pulled the clone up and continued. Fives commented on how he would need a new armor after this but shut his mouth when Echo recited the reg manual page about the replacement of damaged equipment.

They took the elevator to the next level. “This seems to easy.” Erik whispered. “My words, vod.” Fives said. “Activate your cloaks. We will distract them.” Echo advised. As they arrived on the next level they proceeded towards the reactor. Just as they crossed a set of controls a force-field erected in front of the clones. Erik and John switched by to visibility. “As we thought. Go.” Echo ordered.

Behind them a small drone hovered in front of them and Oleg Petrovsky appeared. “You sprung my trap. Didn't notice I left you only this path? Now I have you here at my mercy.”

Echo and Fives just laughed. “Really? Just to remind you. There were four of us.”

Petrovsky growled and had the drone move up to the control panel for the energy distribution.

He saw two men debating on either shutting the reactor down or just direct energy away from the force-fields. “You will not will. My forces will over run you before you accomplish your mission unless you over load it now but that isn't you style, Shepard.” He said arrogantly.

John tried to concentrate while he knew that the Cobras were fighting for their lives. Then he found the loophole he left the last time he was on Omega. “Only if I was alone.” The panel redirected all the power from defense systems to the life support and control systems. A small hologram appeared on the side and revealed Aria's hacker. “We made it thanks to you I have resumed control and was able to help with the reactor. We will get our home back.”

 

%MCEPASTEBIN%


	7. We are Omega

**We are Omega**

 

While John and his team took control of the reactor, Jane's team cut through the Cerberus soldiers to get to the Talon camp. They had reached an open catwalk where Phantoms and Nemesis attacked them. Those women had cybernetic implants to handle a sword, but they were minor against Ahsoka's lightsaber skills. Even as two tried to tag team her, she held them at bay with her shoto. The force guided her movements as she decapitated one and pieced the heart of the other. The force guided her down as blue laser bolts flew over her and killed the third Phantom. Rex jumped over her and caught the fall with a roll and fired at the Nemesis. On the other side Jane broke her opponent's sword before doing the same with the weapon in the palm. Behind them Aria and Nyreen bickered about who Cerberus meant by Target Alpha. Jane rolled her eyes and threw a shock wave which threw regular Cerberus troopers off the walk and deep into Omega's streets.

 

Echo and Fives hacked the elevator and they took it upstairs. While John contacted his sister Jane, Erik and the clones took the chance to check their weapons. The Talon HQ had been under attack since Aria's speech to encourage the people of Omega.

Now the last offensive was about to begin. While they traveled towards the Afterlife Club, Aria got a call from her Lieutenant Bray. “Aria! We have encountered Cerberus engineers in the ventilation shafts. Looks like they're heading for the support columns.”

“Delay them. We will come to you.” Aria shouted. Jane hold her back. “John, did you hear that?”

“Loud and clear. We're heading for him now. Tell him to leave his omni-tool online so I can find him.” Her brother answered.

The elevator changed direction as John programmed a new route. As the doors opened they met Bray's team. “Finally. The Engineers are gone. They left their mechs to deal with us.” Echo and Fives immediately went to work. After all they were clones and originally bred to fight droids.

“For the Republic!”

 

“For the Republic!” Deviss shouted as his men charged. On their way back Hackett had requested them to investigate a communication hub. The station was crucial in tracking the reaper progress, and when it went dark the higher ups feared the worst. K1 attacked the Cerberus cruiser and boarded it to gain intelligence on what Cerberus was doing. K9 went down to look after the hub.

The commander took cover as snipers attacked his position. “Hawkeye, your specialty.” His platoon sniper nodded and aimed his DC-15X. While the other clones provided cover and suppressing fire the marksman searched for more challenging targets. “Hello. Who do we have here?”

He saw a shadow moving across the battlefield. “Not so fast there.” he said to himself as he pulled the trigger. The bolt flew across the field. Then blood appeared in the air, as a Phantom collapsed, a hole where her eye was.

“Commander, this is Talon Squad. We have found Ms. Sato. No Cerberus harassing her anymore.”

“Well dome, Berets, regroup and lets get off this planet. K8 will maintain security until alliance detail arrives.”

 

Javik analyzed the statue. He and Kaidan were down in the temple to look a for an ancient relict. “Wait. This is a Prothean beacon.” he said. He touched the ground and let his senses fly free.

“Human. You need to activate them.” He directed Major Alenko to the different artifacts around the room.

A VI appeared. “Victory?” he asked. “No. I am Vendetta. The virtual construct of the chief engineer Pashek Vran of the object you call Crucible. You, you are a Prothean.”

“Yes.” Javik couldn't say more as suddenly the corpses of Asari scientists fell past him. Gas filled the room and he collapsed, along with Kaidan. The major had managed to get his helmet but the small amount he breathed in was enough to make him collapse, too.” As everything turned dark, he heard a voice. “Cerberus thanks you for your effort.”

 

Erik worked on the bomb. His cloak kept the enemies off him. John had the same advantage. However Echo and Fives lacked this one. As defusing and defending didn't go one on one the two decided to engage Cerberus and leave the bombs to the two invisible colleagues.

Echo pinned the attackers down with his carbine while Fives picked the most dangerous opponent, the mechs, out. The collapsing mechs electrocuted everyone in their vicinity.

 

Ahsoka watched the scene with worry. Rex had pulled her back into Cover when the Atlas arrived. Suddenly something appeared out of thin air next to him. Before either could react, the phantom slashed Rex. His armor caught the blade and pulled her down. The phantom had been charging its palm blaster, which now hit Rex' helmet at point blank. “NO!” The force wave pushed the phantom away, disintegrating her and the other cerberus organics, leaving their armor clattering on the ground. Rex' visor had shattered and part of his helmet had caved in. Blood was running over his face. Carefully using her blade she cut the remaining helmet off him. It looked like a part of the fragments had dug deep into his skin. One eye was bleeding and Ahsoka feared that he would lose it. Concentrating her force onto him, she looked for the fragments. If she could at least remove them he could heal. He would lose his eye forever, but at least he would live. She knew that Commander Wolffe had an artificial eye and lived. “Come on, Rexter. Don't leave me now.”

“Never, little one. Never again.” he whispered in her ear. Jane applied Medi-Gel to keep the wound from becoming infected. Aria kept an eye on Cerberus. “We have to get to Afterlife now.”

Suddenly Jane's com-link flared. “Wait!”

 

“WAIT!” Erik shouted. Behind him the clones held the Adjutants back while John worked on sealing the doors. “We have Adjutants on scene. If you attack the Afterlife Club, wait until we link up with you.”

He took his rifle and opened fire on the monster. Echo took the large thermal clipped to the back of his belt and entered the code. As soon as it began to beep rapidly he threw it in the middle of the Adjutants. “We are reaching the end of the Gozu District.”

 

Ahsoka blocked the shots directed at them. Nyreen had ordered three of her Talons to take the injured Rex behind cover. Jane fired her Geth Spitfire while Aria used her Disciple shotgun.

They pushed towards the Afterlife but two guardians blocked them. With a short nod Aria and Jane combined a flare with an Annihilation Field. The detonation burned the guardians to a crisp. Ahsoka stopped to check the other teams progress. They were still a minute out.

Suddenly Aria and Nyreen jumped down the balcony they were on. Ahsoka assessed the situation before she followed.

 

Echo ran at full speed. John and Fives had separated to take it to the higher ground to provide sniper support. Erik prepped a grenade. His scanners showed a group of Adjutants closing in on the Afterlife. Turning around a corner, they saw the monsters jumping towards their general. Without thinking Echo unleashed hell from his Z-6 Rotary blaster. “This is for you, brother.” He whispered as his memory brought Hevy up again. The Stun grenade flew in a high arc before it landed in the middle of the Adjutants. Erik dove under the swing of an Adjutant. Turning around, he slotted it with his two handpistols. But when the next attacked he was too slow. The hook took his helmet off as he landed on the ground with a violent crack. He blinked and checked himself. It was the corpse below him that broke its bones. Echo saw his fellow friend go down, but he himself was holding off an Adjutant of his own. The Adjutant went for the kill when his head exploded.

Fives looked up from his scope. “Bull's eye.” He and John resumed shooting. The mix of lasers and projectiles wore the barriers and armor down, leaving them open to the females' attacks.

Jane countered the singularity fired by the reaper and engaged in close range. She punched through the armor of one and detonated her biotics. The Adjutant exploded, showering them with goo.

“That's the last of them.” Nyreen said. She turned around to see the locked doors of the Afterlife Club. Aria went to storm, but she stopped when a lightsaber was hold in front of her. “Let me through! You will not stop my revenge!” she hissed at the Jedi.

Ahsoka shook her head. “I sense more of these Adjutants in there along with a lot of Cerberus henchmen.

John and Fives checked their sniper rifles. “We go back up. I reckon that you still didn't seal the ventilation shafts?” Shepard asked Aria. “Indeed I did not.” “Lieutenant, do you have a stealth mode on that weapon?” Fives didn't answer but switched the barrel. That answered the question. “Nyreen, you come with us. We need somebody familiar with the tunnels and shafts.” The turian nodded as she led the two men to a secret entrance.

Echo checked his rotary blaster. “Time to dish out the pain.” he smirked. As a clone he had few chances to unleash his inner child. The only good thing he had at the moment was his relationship with Bo. And even in this war they had nearly no time for each other.

 

Bo-Katan enjoyed the shore leave in the Purgatory. She and her friends had buried their fallen sisters and were now celebrating again. The first time the went in here a few drunk marines made the mistake to take them as poster girls. After a good barfight the men knew better and left them alone. At the moment she enjoyed a drink with a woman called Jack. A strong biotic with the spirit of a real mando. They exchanged stories of war. Bo hoped to see Echo again. Although she viewed the clones as bastard before it changed after she actually met them and he saved her during the civil war. She waited for him to return from the Omega Station. The war didn't wait for anybody. The 327th was on Dekuuna, evacuating the elcors while the 501st was in charge of training C-Sec and the new civilian militia. The UST brought in a new set of scientists to the Crucible. Legion was on board the Normandy, intercepting Cerberus-Activities, especially after the fall of Thessia. Liara had taken it fairly hard and spent a lot of time with her parent at the Presidium.

 

The Adjutant collapsed when Echo drilled the Z-6 into its back. While he kept the Cerberus forces back Erik worked on the generators. Impulsive as she was Aria had charged fist first and got herself caught in a stasis field. Their original plan to split up and take the generators our was canceled then Petrovsky revealed the second generation Adjutants. Jane took on the Adjutants. Her being a strong biotic enabled her to fight in the area around Aria unharmed from the biotic explosions. Erik managed to lower the shields around on the first Generator. Ahsoka threw her lightsaber while fending off a Phantom. “Moving to the next.” Echo went first, mowing down Cerberus personnel in his path while Ahsoka brought up the rear. Erik threw a frag to distract the various Adjutants left for Jane. John and Fives picked their targets from the two shafts above them. The cross fire rendered any cover Cerberus used useless. “General!” Ahsoka looked around to see Echo waving. Cerberus had been slaughtered. “Doors hacked, you should catch him now.” The jedi nodded in response as she jumped over. Jane used a biotic charge to rush to the door.

“General Petrovsky. You are under arrest.” She said. The general opened the comm. “All units. Cease fire. Withdraw to the docks. Do not engage anybody.” He shut the terminal down and turned towards the two women. “I surrender myself into alliance custody.”

“Lieutenant Winston, take him in.” “Yes, Ma'am.” He and the two ARC-troopers cuffed the man and brought him down to the hangar where the Normandy would meet them. John and Jane stayed behind to talk with Aria and Nyreen. “Don't forget the Omega resources.” Jane turned to Nyreen. “Keep order up. Help Aria to stay focused on the current threat.” The turian nodded. “I will.”

 

Rex woke with a painful startle in his right eye. He blinked several times as suddenly lines of text scrolled over it. He closed his eyes but the text was still there. “Stay still, Rex-Captain. I am still calibrating the eye.” Legion said as the geth pushed him down. “Now you may proceed.” He rested on his elbows and tried to assess his surroundings. He was in the med-bay on board the Normandy. Ahsoka sat on the next bed and examined him. He immediately got readings on her from his right eye. He blushed as he tried to ignore it. “You do know it works like your helmet's HuD, do you?” Legion asked. Taking the hint Rex blinked three times and the texts disappeared.

“How bad was it?” Doctor Chakwas held a tablet in front of him. “Multiple sharpnell wounds and a shattered ribcage. You lost your eye. While we replaced it, the right side of your face will remain scarred.”

“How did the mission...?” Ahsoka took his hand into hers. “We made it. Petrovsky is in a cell and you are soon fit to fight again. Luckily we have shore leave soon. The Normandy is called back to get updated on the newest tech and repairs.”

But the Normandy wasn't the only ship that had to return. The Cobra fleet stopped by as well, performing checks on the reactors and seeing if the combination of Republic tech and Terran tech worked well together.

Admiral Yularen expressed his idea of replacing the standard turbolasers with the new UST turrets. The Acclamators had to be refueled as the had not been fitted with fusion-reactors yet and the Consulars were outfitted with cloaking devices. Also the clones had to rearm. While their blaster's mags regenerated over time the grenades didn't replace themselves. They were taken to a weapon's depot and were allowed to take anything they want from ordinance.

 

Jane and John visited their new apartment. Admiral Anderson had left it to them as he didn't use it frequently. He practically ordered them to use it. The apartment was huge. It had three bedrooms which the two separated into to master bedrooms and a guest room. They had just settled in when they received an e-mail from Joker. The pilot invited them to the local sushi-bar, calling it a meeting of the only permanent Normandy crew-members during the reaper war. The host recognized them immediately and also the citizens made room for the famous Shepard twins. They were led towards the back of the restaurant and met Joker at a table. Nearby they found Erik and Catherine having a romantic diner.

“How can you eat this?” Catherine asked as she poked the sushi. Erik poured his personal mix of thai curry and soy sauce onto his salmon. “This question coming from the woman, who lives on blood.” he commented. He stopped when he saw Catherine stiffing. “Sensing it, too?” he asked, when a warning flared up on his glasses.

Just then a rough voice disrupted the calm atmosphere. “Today's entertainment includes pointless violence and destruction. In a swift motion The Shepards as well as the Cobras took cover. Brooks, being in plain sight with her alliance uniform was captured first.

John turned around. “Joker, get the Normandy crew. I might need help down here.” As the pilot limped away Jane grabbed one of the attackers and threw him down. She grabbed the pistol and threw it to her brother. “You'll need it more than I do.” John nodded as he activated his tactical cloak. Disguised he ran past the mercs and reached Brooks. She was unconscious so he moved her silently to the bathrooms before his cloak had to recharge.

Erik fired his pistol. He was glad that he decided to pack at least one of his sidearms. Catherine broke a chair and took two legs to wield them like bats. Jane used a singularity to pull mercs from their hiding and smash them against the wall. A grenade flew towards them but Catherine caught it in the air and threw it back. The explosion set the kitchen on fire. Jane used the confusion to clear a path with a nova. Erik rolled over a table, grabbed a knife and stabbed the closest merc into the eyes before shooting at a set of newcomers. John fired the M11-Suppressor at the heads. The weapon was surprisingly lethal despite its small size and the lack of ammo. He met up with the others but just then another merc landed and shot the glass below them. The Shepards fell down first, catching onto a small ledge. Erik was caught by Catherine but the water made her slip and she fell down, too.

They fell onto the Shepards which caused them to loose their grip.

 

They landed on a catwalk in the Citadel's lower levels. John tried to contact his crew but he received only static, disrupted by laughter. Erik checked his radio. He reckoned that no one could decipher Aurebesh in this world. Combined with mando it was nearly impossible to crack if you didn't know where Jango Fett came from and used the right dialekt.

“I've got a connection. Code Red, I repeat Code Red.” In the meantime Jane managed to contact Brooks again. She was using a terminal near a med-station and tried to help them. “On the other side of the road is a skycar retailer. “It's Cision Motors. I'll try to get a shuttle there, but C-SEC has the whole place under lockdown. The continued down towards another level and reached a market place. They decided that it was best to stay in the shadows and attract attention. While Catherine took out the patrolling mercenaries silently, Erik got a reply from his radio.

“Ashley, Bo and I are just at the Castle Arcade. We will move towards you.” Tali replied. Fives Kaidan and Echo called in from the Armax-Arsenal-Arena. They, too, were on their way.

Bly called in, too. He had heard from the incident. He was with his personal squad in a gunship while Deviss helped C-SEC to clear the restaurant and the remaining 327th locked the area down. Rex had already sent word to the 501st to stop flirting with the new female shinies and the mando women or at least take it to the docks where the lartys were standing.

Erik shook his head at the picture. Jango clones flirting with Alina Fett clones. He looked down where Catherine and John gave them the clear sign. Proceeding down they were stopped by a locked gate. John went to hack it, instead of using his Spectre ID to get past. The gate opened without a sound. As they continued more mercs ran across them. At the entrance the were pinned down by the fire. Suddenly the resistance collapsed. The four struck their heads out to see their companions.

Tali and Kaidan immediately checked their beloved ones. “Heard you had a bad day?”

Bo and Ashley searched for the terminal to open the gates. Luckily a night guard was in the office who was eager to comply. Fives and Echo gave Catherine and Jane their sidearms.

Just as they stepped out onto the landing platform a C-SEC shuttle arrived.


	8. Clone War

**Clone War**

 

Jane threw up a barrier as soon as she recognized the mercs. The bullets bounced off the biotic shield as the others took cover. The attack was disrupted by a large Krogan crashing into the shuttle.

Wrex downed the shuttle and took the crew out in less than ten seconds. He grabbed the Spitfire and handed it to Jane. “Always in action, hm?” Glass shattered as more mercenaries attacked from the upper level. Erik picked up a Revenant and fired the LMG at the incoming heavies. Catherine fired the stolen sniper rifle as fast as she pulled the trigger. The constant stream of lasers, bullets and plasma tore through the merc's lines. Suddenly the lot shook as an atlas landed on the pad. It fired at the skycar they were hiding behind. Two rockets soared past them as green lasers tore into it. From the upper level James jumped down, his rocket launcher secure in his hands. “Take that, assholes.”

The atlas fell over and made room for the gunship to land.  Bly, Inc, Barr and Galle fired at the attackers, giving them cover fire to retreat to the larty. When everyone was on board, Bly smacked the hull. “All accounted for, go!”

H awk fired a last volley before he pulled the gunship out and headed for the landing pad on the Tiberius Towers.

As they entered Brooks entered with Joker. “Where the hell did you learn flying? That teacher belongs into a mad-house.”

“Now this is a problem.” Bly said. “Technically it's C-Sec's problem but since the attack was obviously against the Shepards...” “We need to inform Bailey.” Jane said.

Brooks shook her head. “But wouldn't that paint him a target?”

“Okay, we do this by ourselves. No need to get Bailey until we have a threat against the Citadel itself.” John decided. “Now we only need to find out who was shooting at us and why.”

“Permission to tag along for getting shot at?” a familiar voice asked. Joker smiled as he saw EDI. Along with her the other members of the Normandy's core crew and the Cobra's commanding officers entered.

They stood around the dining table. The only lead they had was the weapons they had taken.

According to the shadow broker the M-11 was an exclusive private order. A private military cooperation called CAT6, after the dishonorable discharge from the alliance. Most members were former marines and were organized in groups named after sharp objects. John looked at the files Liara and EDI had compiled. “What ever they are up to, we seem to be the targets.”

Ahsoka looked at him. “The 327 th is securing the Cobra ships while the Rangers watch the docks. The 501 st keeps around this tower and agree s to keep an eye out for suspicious activity.”

“The heroes assembled.” Brooks breathed. She looked into the round. “The Shepard twins, heroes of the Citadel and their crew: Archangel, Javik, the last Prothean, Urdnot Wrex, Leader of the Krogans, Tali'Zorah, Admiral of the quarians and Legion, machines at peace with organics, and all the other famous people. If it hadn't been for you the reapers would have won years ago. And then the Cobras, fearless soldiers, sign of hope to allies and death to their enemies. 

Ahsoka and Aayla looked at the woman. Something was off about her, but the two jedi just couldn't lay the finger on it.

 

Bo looked at the sanctuary.  They had intercepted Cerberus fleeing from Thessia to this abandoned area in space, the last refuge from the reapers. Shore-leave was cut short when they found the place. It was suspicious as all signals were actively jammed in that area so Bo decided to move in and investigate. Usually she would leave it to the clones, but they were tired and had deserved the shore leave. The Night-Owls hadn't seen much action since the monastery and now they were here.  Keeping to the shadows, they watched how the reapers attacked cerberus. “ Finally they begin to kill each other.” May commented. Moons kept an eye out for trouble. “Two phantoms incoming. One nemesis upstairs.” Bo pulled out the black lightsaber that once belonged to Pre Vizsla. “Let's greet them the mando way.” She smirked.

 

E cho observed the plan. He and Fives were standing on the Silversun Strip. While the Geth Legion and Liara sorted data and tried to draw connections they checked the surroundings. Hardcase and Jesse were on the landing pad while Kix and Coric were on the roofs with sniper rifles. Other 501 st clones patrolled with their partners in civil, enjoying the shore-leave while keeping their comms online.

Galle and Inc were back at the docks with Lieutenant Angeles. Keeping watch of the Fleet was not as easy as they thought. With a port as busy as the Citadel, vessels and skycars were moving everywhere. At least the Normandy was in a secured alliance dock.  Chief engineer Adams worked on the drive core together with Donnelly and Daniels. Traynor was upstairs upgrading the computer systems with EDI. Additional firewalls to prevent an outside shutdown was installed. It was risky to give an AI such freedom but both Shepards had expressed their trust in EDI, despite Javik's prejudice against machines.

 

E DI sorted through the data the clones unearthed from the weapon itself while LEGION looked for CAT6. 

“We found something.” Liara called Shepard who asked her brother and the others to join. “The weapons were sold by Elijah Kahn. Owner of the Casino.” She played an intercepted phone call. Kahn complained about the possibility of the back-tracking to him. Clear evidence that he was involved.

Glyph pointed out who today's evening a charity event was hosted so storming in at gunpoint would do no good. LEGION suggested a stealthy approach. “Data suggests that he will appreciate the protection. A short hack on the guest list had them all in the VIP-section. Brooks was concerned about how to get to Kahn. According to Glyph he was locked into his panic room. However they had to disable security timely close to get in without anyone noticing. “This ventilation shaft leads past most of the security into the storage room right next to the panic room. I guess that it will have heavy security on it. Some one with tech knowledge has to get through.”

Everyone looked at Tali. “No, no. My suit is full of tech and might trip any sensors.” EDI and LEGION were next. “We are technically mechs. Our presence alone would rise suspicion.”

“Who has no tech on them?” John asked. Wrex held his hands up in a denying gesture. “I don't fit in there. Too many varren barbecues.” “No experience with your tech.” Ahsoka and Aayla backed up.

“No, we need someone with experience in no-tech-defusing. I had a course once where I had to defuse a bomb with a toothbrush...” Brooks looked up only to have all eyes on her. “Welcome aboard, Brooks.” “What, no! I'm am only an office clerk. Not a field agent.” she complained.

“We'll have you covered.” Jane assured. Liara looked at the Shepard twins. “There is only one last hurdle: It's a black tie event.” she said with a nod towards the Cobras.

 

Rex and Bly changed into their dress uniform. Formally only used when they were off-duty and on-board their ships the clones had quickly adapted the UST with medals, decorations and were wearing it anytime they didn't require the armor. Erik joined them. His dress uniform held several medals and he had the peaked hat on. The two clones had the fleet officer hats while waiting for their dates. Bly sucked in his breath when he spotter Aayla walking out from the closet. The jedi had always worn revealing clothes, but this dress was borderlining on indecent. The dress she wore was figure hugging. It left her back free and a great view on her cleavage. In fact, the front consisted only of two straps running over her breasts, joining just below her belly button. The see-through lace was nearly not existent. Ahsoka was a little better as she wore the same clothes she had when she posed as a princess during the slave undercover op. Erik waited for Catherine. He had already gotten a glimpse of what she would wear and it covered much at the same time as it was seductive. And he was right. Catherine entered in her pitch black dress. A slit on the side showed off her legs. The satin hugged her figure and left little room for imagination. John had Tali and Jane had Kaidan. Since their arrival was announced the voted for a spectacular entrance. This included Commander Deviss and his troopers landing with two lartys.

One gunship hovered above the red carpet, leaving red marked troopers to rope down and stand at attention while the second LAAT/i landed and parted its blast doors.

“Ready to join the flash storm?” John asked Brooks jokingly. “No, you are the heroes. I'm js´just a figure in the back ground. Once inside they separated. EDI and LEGION were coordinating the couples around toe casino. The clones and the jedi were around the varren runs while Erik and Catherine were on the other side by the roulette tables. John and Tali stayed on the ground floor while Kaidan and Jane accompanied Brooks to the ventilation shaft. “It's secured. I can't open it without announcing us.”

“Shepard, Legion has inserted himself into the system. He can shut down systems temporarily. However I have no means to communicate with him. He locked himself in to prevent raising alarms. You have to access the terminals he should shut down manually.”

EDI watched the alarms and the respective controls. “The controls for the shaft cover is on the other side of the dance floor. Touch the check button on it. LEGION will then act. However, he can only block for thirty seconds. I recommend to mingle with society, should suspicion arise.”

Jane nodded. She and Kaidan walked along the way, getting a drink at the bar. They moved into the corner where the console was in full view of a camera. Kaidan quickly kissed Jane and shoved her against it. Sidetracked by the kiss Jane knocked the button with her elbow.

“Okay I'm in.” Brooks announced while crawling through the shaft. Kaidan and Jane rejoined the dance floor after taking a strong drink from the bar.

“I need help.” There is a guard right underneath me. I can't pass without notice. This time Bly had an evil grin. “Rex, count to three hundred and then send the guard to the toilet. Red Sand.” He grabbed Aayla and moved towards the restroom. Once there she began trashing the place with the force while Bly prepped an IED to drop it into the draining system. Silently they left the bath and joined Erik at the roulette.

Rex saw Bly exiting the restrooms before he counted to two hundred. Giving his brother time to mingle, he went to the guard. “Excuse me, Sir? I believe that there is a red sand user in the bathroom.” “We will take care of it.” the guard said as he left his position. The clone looked up just in time to see a blue dress hush past the ventilation hatch. Ahsoka took his arm. “Maybe we are ready for a dance?”

Erik decided that it was time to change locations so he and Catherine went over to the Varren races.

Then Brooks hit the next problem. “Oh god. I just noticed that I'm on a pressure pad. I can't defuse the alarm without releasing the pad but I can't defuse the pad without triggering the trap!”

EDI was already on it. “According to the schematics the junction boxes are on the left near the varren races and next to the roulette.”

Erik kept an eye on the camera, passing the right point to reach the junction box. “Suspicious activity detected.” Catherine grabbed Erik and pressed him against the wall, capturing their lips in a ferocious kiss. On the other side. Aayla and John distracted the two guards by complaining about “rude” people in the casino while Bly conveniently blocked the camera's view on the box Tali was tapping against to draw LEGION's attention to it. Back on the other side Erik and Catherine separated. Erik corrected the fit of his medals as he approached the guard. “Where might I find the bathroom, please. My girlfriend was a bit rough and I need to...” The guard caught on quickly. “Right that way, Sir. And good luck with that catch.” he smiled.

Catherine waited for him as he exited the room. “No better idea?” she grinned. “Came in mind as Bly and Aayla trashed the public one.” It didn't take long until Brooks hit two problems. “Commander, I am at the door but I need help to open the doors. However, I tripped a silent alarm.”

EDI had an idea for it. “I can tell the guard that it was a false alarm, but you will need to stop him so LEGION can get me in.” Erik shoved John and Jane towards the panic room. “Go. We will handle this here.” The Shepard twins made their way into the back area. Two guards and two cameras were watching the area. But first they planted themselves onto the couches, waiting for the others to stop the guard from checking on Brooks.

Erik walked in front of Bly, holding his drink. Just in front of the guard he stopped so Bly ran into him, causing him to splatter the liquid over the guard. EDI's voice went over all guards' comms loudly so The Shepards and their dates jumped into action. Jane and Kaidan distracted the guards while Tali and John disrupted the junction boxes. It took LEGION seconds to disable the security system. Just as they entered the guards looked for them but shrugged it off.

“Kahn? I want to talk.”

Kaidan went around the table and looked at the man. “I think he won't answer.” He gave the chair a nudge and turned it around. Kahn sat in his chair, his head on his shoulder. Dead.

Brooks looked at the terminal. “Someone wiped it.” John looked at it. The wipe was initiated by local authorization. Only someone who was already in here. Tali scanned Kahn with her omnitool. The bullet is fresh. Less than a few minutes.”

After the return to the apartment EDI and LEGION went over the newest development. Brooks didn't know it but the geth had still been in the system and had gotten a snapshot of the person who wiped the terminal. It had been Brooks. Additionally with the local access and Tali's scan of the dead body, all pointed at her. Now the twins and the jedi were interrogating her. Something was up and they didn't like it.

What they got out of her was not good.

Her real name was Maya. She had worked for Cerberus, but later found the Shepard clones. Now she wanted to get her own Shepard working for her. “You were the first human spectres. But somewhere you forgot your own species. You helped more aliens than humans.” She spatted.

“Where are they?” Jane demanded. “You are too late. They will take the Normandy and be the real Shepards. No one would believe you.” she laughed. Jane panicked. She entered her Spectre ID along with John and they gave the activation codes. “Normandy! Immediate Lockdown and shut the core down!” Maya laughed. “Fell for it!” Suddenly the roof was blown off and a shuttle came down. John and Jane looked at their counterparts took Maya and disappeared. Just then a group of clones stormed in. “We are too late.” Jane said. Just then Erik pulled them into the gunship and shoved them towards their armor. LEGION warned us. He is already alerted the fleet. They are blocking the direct route. We can still catch up with them at the docks. Now get your gear on. EDI entered the Normandy. The success of the mission was on her shoulders. It would be better to fight the clone away from the citadel.

 

The gunships surrounded the docks. Ahsoka led the 501st to retake the communications tower. Bailey didn't believe it at first that a fake Shepard took the Normandy, but after John hinted at a more embarrassing night in the bar Bailey believed them.

The Normandy launched. But it didn't went far. Three tractor beams caught the Normandy and stopped it in its tracks. The Consular-corvettes latched onto the emergency exits and main entrances. Two Mando-Shuttles extracted the escape pods and dropped night-owls into the openings. The 327th were in the gunships surrounding the ship to prevent any escape attempts.

At the bulks several teams got ready to strike. Tali and John would get in through the engineering hatch. Jane, Kaidan and Ashley would sneak in through the maintenance and take the CIC.

Wrex and Grunt agreed to charge the main lock and retake the cockpit while Garrus and Erik would crawl through the cannons and capture the weapon's controls. From there they would move in and remove the cyro pods to give the mandos access through the escape pod locks. James, Ashley and Liara would go in by the shuttle bay and secure a foot hold for the clone troopers to enter.

 


	9. A Shepard never comes alone

**A Shepard Never Comes Alone**

 

Erik crawled through the barrel of the Thanix cannon. He stayed in touch with Garrus, who was in the other one. “Good, I'm in the firing chamber. How do I unlock the maintenance hatch again?”

“See the small hole? Stick a finger in it and pull the lever towards you.” Erik found it. It was even smaller than his finger. He pulled out a pen and fished for the lever. He finally got it and opened the hatch. He surprised a merc when the swinging hatch knocked him over. He immediately shot him and his squad with precise head shots while dropping into the weapon room. Garrus sniped the last one before he radioed John. “Thanix-Team is in. Moving to the KyroPods now.”

John nodded. He looked back to Tali. The Quarian had her shotgun ready. She charged the Geth-weapon. Steve inserted a thermal clip. As a last minute addition he didn't wear any armor on him but a light flank vest provided by Erik. “Team Hammer is ready.” Below the walkway to the CIC Jane checked on Ashley and Kaidan. “Team Mako ready.” Wrex and Grunt nodded to the clone troopers behind them. They simply knocked on the door. “Hey Shepard. We're here as you called us.” the lock was opened. The two krogans charged in and into the helm. The mercs in the CIC immediately moved up to combat them. Jane stormed from her hide out and she and her two squad mates ambushed the CAT6-mercs. The marines kept close to the edge of the corridor while the two krogans engaged the heavy troopers in close combat. “Uncle Urdnot has a present for you!”

Grunt laughed and blasted an enemy sniper with his shotgun. “I have always wanted to fight on the Normandy!” Wrex joked. “Keep the damage down or you'd wish that I hadn't stopped Ash on Virrmire.” That shut him up immediately. One deck below, Bo led her girls against the mercs. The shadow borker's office was clear, as was the med bay and the AI core. While Garrus and Erik cleared the men's bathroom, the Night Owls secured the remaining quaters. “Crew deck is clear and under control.” In Engineering John secured the cargo holds. “Engineering is clear. Although Allers will have to get new equipment.” He accessed the controls to open the ramp. “Team, check the Captain's quarters and then regroup at the ramp. This is personal.” Jane and John entered the elevator and went down to the hangar.

Their clones immediately fired at them. John and Jane immediately took cover. “Stop shooting my ship!” Clone-Jane said. “We are better than you. We don't make the mistakes you did! Why can't you accept this?” Brooks wanted to say something when a shot took her down. “Because: A Shepard never comes alone!” Jane jumped over the cache and punched Clone-John away. John appeared out of thin air and kicked Clone-Jane. The Clone-Shepards charged their biotic abilities.

“I didn't know they combined your DNA with mine.”

A biotic shock-wave threw them back. John disappeared again when Jane punched the ground to release a nova. Clone Jane toppled over an invisible John who fired a disruptor round at close range. The sniper round penetrated the joint and stung Clone-Jane. Clone-John screamed and wanted to attack but several rounds into his shoulders dropped him. “That's our strength.” Jane said as she kicked the shotgun out of the clone's hands. “We don't treat our crew like cannon fodder. They follow us because they want to. Not because we make them.” Their clones looked at them as they suddenly melt into blue goo. “Maintenance to shuttle bay.” Joker said into his head set as he saw the mess when he boarded with the troopers. The riot squad took Maya in. The troopers bound her with real physical cuffs instead of the holographic C-SEC used.

 

Three days later the Normandy was completely repaired and upgraded. Again the crews split up. The Shepards were called to meet Doctor Bryson. Ahsoka and the Citadel Strike Team would go with them. Aayla would lead the 327th to investigate the Sanctuary. Traynor had tracked the assassin Kai Leng to that area. Active jamming prevented further investigations. As heavy reaper activity was displayed in the surrounding areas, the star destroyers would be deployed. Aayla, Bly, Galle, Inc and Barr would go in first with Ashley and Kaidan and search for him. Miranda had asked permission to tag along as she planned to enter it herself.

The team to infiltrate and recon. When they gave the go the main fleet would jump through the hyperspace to bail them out.

 

Jane entered the lab with John, Ahsoka and Rex. “Doctor Bryson?” “Ah, Commanders Shepards. General Tano, Captain Rex.” The man nodded and signaled them to follow him. “Hadley, please accumulate all our latest findings for the Commanders.” “Right away, Sir.” Rex took his helmet off and massage his head. The new implant he got after the injury on Omega was still causing headaches. He watched the galaxy map as Bryson began to tell them about the myth called Leviathan of Dys. “We investigate all myths as myths always grow on hard facts. Only interpretation can make them the secret they are. We have intercepted Batarian communication and have come to the conclusion, that Leviathan is indeed a reaper-killer.” The assistant entered. “Do you have the data?” “No.” Rex noticed a glint out of the corner of his eye. The implant opened a HuD and told him that it was a weapon. With the reflexes of a soldier he shoved Bryson to the side and took the round. Ahsoka reacted immediately and pulled the gun out of the man's hands before pinning him against the wall with the force.

“The darkness will not be breached.” Jane checked on Bryson while John looked after Rex. The round had hit between two plates of the pauldron and stopped at the armor below it. Ahsoka and Rex took Hadley away while Jane and John stayed behind and let Bryson explain Task Force Aurora to them. “We have three teams I am here at HQ to direct support from the navy and coordinate my teams. My partner, doctor Garneau is out to investigate a discovery by a mine ten years ago. We found the report again when the Reaper-invasion began and Garneau immediately went there. My daughter Ann is also out on a dig site.” Bryson led the two to the next room. John looked up. “Is that..?” Bryson nodded. “Yes. It's a part of the Sovereign. We have placed it behind shields and all of us are checked regularly.” He led them to a wall and activated the UV-lamp. “We have tried to extrapolate the course the Leviathan took. We believe that it indoctrinates to get his resources. Several unexplainable events where goods went missing but the thieves couldn't remember what they took and why. Heck, most of them didn't even have a reason to steal.”

He showed them a little meteor. “We believe that Leviathan needs E-Zero. Even if it harbors it, eezo expires after a long time of idling.” He went back to the galaxy map and engaged three filters. “If we take the creature sightings, eezo resources and the recent reaper activity, one of its last known locations would be here.” The Galaxy map zoomed in on Caleston Rift, more exactly on the meteroid Mahavid in the Aysur system. A small boy showed them, that Garneau team was there.

“Now this is strange. He was online just two days ago. He should have called in by now.”

Jane and John stepped closer. “What is it?” Bryson pointed at the OFFLINE blinking in Garneau's box. He just called me yesterday and told me to look for his discovery. He wanted to send me a report today.” Then he jumped back, scared at the sudden appearance of a holographic Geth in the map. “Shepard-Commander.” “LEGION?” John asked, surprised about the now female sound of it. “Affirmative. We were analyzing Task Force Aurora ourselves, when the Geth were still under Reaper control. The old machines were concerned about this being you call Leviathan.” Bryson looked at the Geth. “Would it be possible to send a few Geth to assist me?” LEGION nodded. “We have reached consensus that this would be the best course of action. One of our Scientist, will be given the data necessary. It will begin work immediately. Just then a second Geth flared in the map. “Hello, human beings. I am your helper.” a female voice said.

Bryson was curious now. “Do you have a name I can address you with?” The Geth nodded. “As I will work with your Task Force the, name Aurora should be adequate. Since the reaper upgrade, I would think of me as female anyway.” John was surprised. “Geth have genders now?” “It is only a personal preference, Shepard-commander. It is something we adapted after studying humanity. We deemed that it would be an interesting experiment to conduct, as all Geth see each other as equal. The only differences we have now are our platforms. One Geth is now capable of controlling one Prime or ten simple platforms while maintaining the same efficency as before. This is also necessary as we deem it necessary with the loss of recent platforms to bond with a Quarian partner. Same gender as the partner makes the teamwork easier as we are technically their suits.”

John grinned at this. “And you don't happen to be Tali's partner?” LEGION nodded again. “Affirmative. Although I have received a Prime unit on my own. Due to my interaction with your unit EDI I am capable of more than the normal Geth. I can operate my platform and be in Tali's suit at the same time.” John had to wrap the idea in his mind. It was strange to think of the Geth as a society with genders just like any other race. Well apart from the Hanar where you also could nit tell the genders apart. “He has also shared the reaper code with me. The addition to the reaper fragment Cerberus used to create me enables me of increasing efficiency by 300%.” EDI added. Suddenly her visor flared up. “Warning. Heighten Reaper Activity around Mahavid detected. We need to extract the them immediately.”

Doctor Bryson had the coordinates ready. Aurora scanned over them and exchanged data with EDI and LEGION. The EDI turned to the Shepards. “We advise to use the Normandy to get Dr Garneau. His position is not compromised yet and we can get past the Reaper forces with ease.”

Notice was sent out to the 501st. Within minutes the Normandy left the Citadel and prepared to get to the mining station.

 

On the other side of the Galaxy an FV-22 left warp-space. Bly looked up from the controls at Aayla. “So this is the Sanctuary?” Kaidan nodded. “This is where I was stationed a while along with Ash.”

He looked out. “Wasn't swarmed with so many Reapers back then.”

The pilot landed in the courtyard. “I'm bingo on fuel. Extraction will be here ten mikes from now. They will be able to wait for five.” Aayla closed her eyes. “I feel a familiar presence here.”

Bly checked the surroundings with his binoculars. “I see Cerberus.”

“Major Alenko, Lieutenant Commander Williams, you take point. Inc and Barr will cover you. Galle and Bly with me.” Aayla ordered. “General, you have a feeling?” Bly asked. She nodded. “You two get your jetpacks. We will take it onto the tower. I can feel a disturbance up there.”

“But ma'am, what about the reapers?” Galle asked, concerned about the danger. “That's why I take Bly and you with me.” She flashed him a smile. Bly grinned as he attacked the jetpack onto his brother's back plate.

 

Kaidan laid down suppressing fire with his Typhoon to give Ashley and Inc an opening to get the snipers on the balcony. Barr looked over his cover in time to see the phantom making a beeline for the major. Readying his shotgun Barr jumped over his cover and slammed into its side, taking the warrior by surprise. Firing his weapon at point blank he lifted his arm to block the second blade. Kaidan noticed the attack and lashed out with his foot. His kick caught the second phantom square in her face. Barr sat down and patched his wound with bacta before resealing his suit. “Damn blades.” he cussed. He checked the plates of him pauldron, confirming that the blast had not compromised his armor. The squad regrouped. Inc reloaded his rifle. “One get's the feeling, we weren't welcome.” he joked. Barr punched his brother's shoulder. In the meantime Ashley and Kaidan opened the doors. Cerberus hadn't bothered to change the access codes.

Above them Bly and Galle hailed the Reapers with blaster fire. Aayla jumped around them and kept the Harvesters from grabbing the clones. A screech got their attention. Galle was the first to spot the banshee. “Incoming!” He fired his Z-6 at the form. Suddenly the banshee flashed forward and was directly in front of him. Galle pushed his minigun forward and blocked a strike with the rotating barrels. Pulling the sleek arm into the mechanism he broke it before his weapon blocked. Bly saw his brother in distress and fired with his handgun at it before returning his left hand back to his DC-15A rifle. They kept heading for the tower. Reaching the base Bly nodded at Aayla who used the force to run up the side while the two troopers used their jetpacks.

Ash and Kaidan stared at the test tubes. The two clones weren't that shocked, after all, Kamino was just the same. What shocked the two were the human remains in the tubes. Inc put a hand onto Ashley's shoulder. “Ma'am, we have finished getting all data from the terminal. We have good and bad news.” “Name them, soldier.” Barr looked up from the terminal. “Miranda Lawson is on scene, but so is Kai Leng.” Kaidan panicked. “Warn the General!” Barr nodded and tried to get through the static. “Can't reach them. Jamming is still online.”


	10. Legacy

**Legacy**

 

 

The Geth had an extended network of scanning devices so LEGION along with AURORA managed to get the exact coordinates to arrive directly at the planet. However, Ann Bryson's digging site was swarmed with reapers, so LEGION advised for the Normandy to divert to Garneau's location. Instead, the Consular-Class ships arrived with the 501st for a hot extraction. Thanks to Ahsoka they managed to locate Ann pretty fast, but the ship couldn't land as close.

“Get us to that landing pad over there.”

She, along with Rex, Echo and Fives managed to land on the pad, but Bond and Devil were less lucky as the pad began to collapse. Reaching out with the force, Ahsoka caught the females and levitated them up to her. “Keep moving!” Rex ordered. “Echo, Devil, you flank the General. I bring up the rear.” The two gunners moved forward, mowing down every husk they had in sight. Then they spotted Cannibals over a dead body. Echo fired a barrage at the explosive barrels while Devil sprayed with her Quadpod at the Reapers. Climbing up a ladder to bypass a collapsed part, they jumped onto the cliff. “Damn, the bridge is down.” Bond cussed. Echo and Fives looked at it. “We'll have it going. Just keep us covered.” Just as the two ARCs worked on the Panel, a loud screech filled the area. A Banshee warped into the area. It threw a biotic sphere at them, but Ahsoka redirected it at a group of Husks with the Force. Rex, Devil and Bond opened fire at it. Wearing its barriers down, the laser tore through the synthetic organs. It collapsed and pulled itself towards Ahsoka who collapsed too, carding her head.

“IT HURTS!” Rex smashed the head into the ground and pumped plasma into it until it dissolved into ashes. “Echo, Fives, work faster!” he barked.

The two ARCs began to rip the console apart. After reconnecting the wires, the bridge began to rise. Echo lifted his minigun and sprayed laser at the incoming husks.

 

Bly fired precision shots while Galle laid down suppressing fire. Then Inc hailed them over the comms: “Commander we are in the room below you! Need help here!” Aayla reacted immediately. Cutting the cannibal in half she jumped back behind the two clones and pushed her lightsaber into the roof and ran around the two. “Brace for impact!” she shouted as she finished her circle. Dropping down they crushed a banshee under the heavy roof piece. Bly switched to his two hand blasters and fired at a barrier engine. A husk jumped him, but was removed by Ashley's precise fire. As soon as the fire died down another voice joined them. “About bloody time you arrived.”

Out of a corner Bo-Katan along with her Night-Owls stepped out. “We were keeping them off our backs for a while.”

“Hey guys, I found something!” Kaidan called them over to a console. They watched Miranda explain the purpose of the Sanctuary. “By the Force.”

Aayla gasped. Miranda got attacked by Kai Leng mid-sentence. She got cut and was left before she picked herself up and struggled to the next medi-gel dispenser. She got a little to seal her wound, but the pool of blood was evidence of her loss. “We have to get her!” Ashley shouted. Aayla was fast to give orders. “Night-Owls, secure this position. Let no one follow us. Ash, you and Inc come with me. Kaidan, Galle, bring up the rear. Barr, take the jetpack and go outside with Bly.” The clones nodded and changed the equipment immediately. Bly and Barr took off through the hole while the rest took the elevator.

 

The Shepards stepped onto the platform. The station was completely silent. Taking an elevator down, they spotted a brute trying to force the doors open. John rested his rifle onto a seat and aimed at the marauder. On his left Garrus did the same while Tali had their back along with EDI. Jane nodded at the two snipers. Two shots, and two heads rolled as the marauders collapsed. Jane surged forward and placed a biotic nova right into the brute's right arm. It blew off. The reaper turned around, but two precision shots curtsey of EDI with her heavy pistol blinded it. Jane emptied her clip into it as Tali fired an overloaded charge from her Geth-Shotgun. As if that wasn't enough, John and Garrus both fired at the brute's knees, forcing it down. EDI stepped forward and hacked the door. It opened, and they entered the mine. Despite the attack nothing seemed out of order. The workers were chatting with each other. Jane stepped to the information desk and, after not gaining the attention of the assistants, pushed the “Help”-Button.

 

“FREEZE!” Aayla shouted as they stormed the room. Henry Lawson was holding his own daughter hostage with his other daughter Miranda at gunpoint. “She turned my Ori against me!” Aayla held her lightsaber down. “Damn it, Miranda. There was a reason Shepard wanted you out of this.” Kaidan cursed. Ashley aimed at Mr Lawson and so did Inc after swiping tablets from a nearby table to rest his bipod on it. Kaidan and Galle also entered, but their focus was more on the elevator and the second set of doors. “Release her.” Aayla said calmly. Henry struggled. “No. Not after Kai Leng took all my research.” The jedi enforced her presence with the Force. “Release her. Now.”

 

“INCOMING!” John shouted as reapers descended through the shields into the mining facility. The others took cover behind panels and other structures. The largest threat were two banshees. They flashed around the area, not staying long enough to be hit. John got one in its head by luck as he aimed for a Ravager.

 

 

Bly watched from the outside. He had to take a detour to get to the window. He saw a man holding a young woman hostage. Most of the discussion was percettibile through Inc and Galle's comms and was disgusted by the man. Dead weren't justified by numbers. His patience broke. Time to end this.

Inc watched his commander outside. He fired a shot which took the pistol right out of Henry's hand. The man cried out and clutched his hand. At the same time Bly broke through the window, pinning him onto the shattered glass below him. Barr grabbed Oriana and gave a short boost on his jetpack which carried both of them over the controls behind Aayla. The jedi herself deactivated her lightsaber and ran over to Miranda and began to treat the Ex-Cerberus agents wounds. Inc dropped to his knees right beside her and unrolled his medi-kit.

 

Bond skidded the last meters on her knees and got behind cover. Firing at the last reapers in sight, she cleared the platform. The remaining unit caught up and they breached into the control room. “Ann Bryson?” The scientist was fuddling over a corpse. Echo checked it. “He's dead.”

“We have to move.” Rex ordered.

“Devil, Fives, protect her. Bond, Echo protect our flanks. Rexter, take point.” Ahsoka said. The Captain opened the doors towards the cliff. Echo went through first and fired at the reaper. Ahsoka consoled Ann. “Anything you can tell us about this leviathan?”

Taking cover behind some rocks, Ann pointed at a wall painting. “We believe that they were worshipped. They were gods.” “They?” the jedi asked.

Ann nodded. “It's a whole culture. We still try to understand them.” Fives peered over his rock. Several reapers were standing around an orb. One was absorbing the energy from it. Suddenly, Ann straightend up. “The darkness cannot be breached.” she said in a monotone voice. Rex grabbed her and pulled her back behind cover. “Damn, she's fighting me.”

Ahsoka looked over to Echo. “Take them out!” The troopers nodded and opened fire. Slotting the reapers the orb burst out of existence. Ann shook her head. A harvester landed, but it was quickly taken care off as Hawk arrived with the gunship again. The turrets tore through the reaper. Shots bounced off the armor plating. “Hurry up! We're sitting ducks out here!” He hovered near them and opened the bay doors. The clones jumped up. Ahsoka grabbed Ann by her waist and used the Force to jump up. As the gunship pulled away, the Consular ships opened fire on the remaining digsite. The turbolasers tore into the cliff, burying reapers beneath them. Ann breathed to calm herself down. “I need to tell my dad about this.”

Rex nodded as they established a link to the Citadel.

 

The Shepard twins fought their way through the mine. Garneau had a detonator. His back was against a familiar orb as he was surrounded by husks. “The darkness will not be breached.” The explosion breached the artifact and the mist coming out vaporized the husks. Tali investigated a dropped Tablet. “Guys, that one wasn't Garneau. This one is.” Around them the mine workers seemed to wake out of a kind of trance. “What happened here?”

John sighed. A long explanation was coming his way. Jane punched his shoulder. He rubbed it and pointed at the corpse of the doctor. “Do you recognize this man?” The worker shook her head. “Never seen him before.”

Another woman rubbed her head. “It was so strange. Like I would never be happy again. So cold.. and dark...” A man leaned against a console. “Yeah, I know what you mean. If darkness was a feeling, that would definitely be it.” He looked down at the site. “I remember that we found something. HQ wanted to send in a scientist.” He spotted a deformed corpse. “What the hell is that thing?”

John glazed down. “That's a reaper.” The Asari woman looked confused. “What is a reaper?” Jane looked at her brother. “What year do you think it is?” she asked. “2176.”

John looked at her. “2176 was ten years ago.”

Jane turned to Garrus. “We need to place them in temporary quarantine. They need to readjust. Try to locate their families.” “It will be done, Commander.” the Turian acknowledged.

 

The different groups returned to the citadel. The Brysons threw themselves into research. When the Shepards along with the Cobra leaders stopped by, they found father and daughter in a heated argument. “Complete non-sense! You will not risk yourself for this. This isn't worth it!”

Ann screamed back. “IF I DON'T DO IT, WE WILL ALL DIE! LEVIATHAN MIGHT BE OUR ONLY CHANCE!”

The spectators watched insults and arguments being exchanged. Then, Ahsoka stepped in. “ENOUGH!” she shouted. She pointed at the elder man. “You want to protect your daughter, I can respect that. But also respect that she makes her own choices.” The jedi turned to Ann. “You need to understand that your father is afraid. If we loose you, it will be in vain.”

Catherine looked at the artifact. “Ahsoka, could you help her mentally?” The jedi nodded. “Erik, how fast can we track the signal?”

Erik looked at the instruments. “The longer we hold the connection, the more precise I can pinpoint it. With the AURORA and EDI it should work to cover everything.”

John nodded as he joined the Lieutenant on the console. Catherine got close to the artifact. “When it goes out of control, I will reactivate the shield.”

Jane, Rex, Echo and Fives pinned Ann down onto the table. From what they had observed, the victims of Leviathan's control had sudden power spikes. The shield was turned off and Ann's eyes turned black. “The darkness will not be breached.” she said in a low voice. Dr. Bryson kneed down next to her head. “We know you are out there. The Reaper are looking for you.” Ann growled an inhuman sound. “They will not find us.”

Erik and John were sorting through the data Aurora and EDI filtered. “Keep him online. We have the sector.” John shouted. Dr Bryson nodded. “You have killed my assistant, why?”

“He was about to breach the darkness. The darkness cannot be breached.”

“Pinpointing the system. Keep him talking!” Ann began to shudder with compulsions, but Catherine didn't activate the shield. “Are you a reaper? Why are you doing this? Why are you killing reaper?” Ann lashed out, but the ARCs kept her down. A crack sounded as one of her ribs broke. “We are above them. They are nothing like us.”

Erik hammered a sequence of digits into the terminal. “GOT IT!” he shouted. Just as the thought crossed his mind, Catherine pressed the button and reactivated the shield. Ann slumbered down. Immediately, her father was hugging her. “Please Ann, no. Don't leave me.”

The clones stepped back and looked onto the floor. Jane tried to console the doctor. Erik looked at Ann, scanning her. “I'm sorry. She is in a deep coma.”

Rex looked around and spotted Ahsoka collapsed on the ground. “Soka? Please don't do this to me.” ~I'm here Rexter. I have to help her. Don't worry. We will return. Find Leviathan and get him on our side. I can only protect her mind from his grasp.~ Rex nodded as he placed his love down onto a stretcher. He turned around to face them. “Do we have the location?”

John nodded. “I've uploaded the coordinates.” Rex looked at the group. “Dr. Bryson, you stay here and make sure they get medical attention. Keep them together.” No one disagreed. “Shepards, take the 501st with you first.” He pointed at Erik and Catherine. “You follow us in the _Red Montan_ _a_.” Immediately , everyone moved and got the ships ready. The Normandy was first to leave Citadel Space with the 501st on board. 

R eaching their destination, they boarded the two shuttles and the larty. Heading down, they looked at the intel from the probe. “The signal is coming from below.” Cortez told them that the shuttles were built to withstand the pressure but no one had tested before. Suddenly, a shock wave hit them. “EMP!” Cortez used the remaining control he had to crash onto a structure on the surface. The second shuttle  T -boned them as James barely managed to land it on the edge.  H awk in the gunship was luckier as the wings provided extr a propulsion. Skidding over the surface, he came to a stop right next to the two shuttles. 

“Is everyone okay?” John asked. “All troopers accounted for and combat-ready.” was the short reply from the trooper next to him. Forcing the shuttle doors open, they looked at the rainy area. “Looks like one of the old ships of the Ballard-Class.” Steve commented. The troopers proved themselves battle-hardened as they immediately secured the surrounding area. Right next to them they spotted an abandoned camp. Mummified corpses were in the tents. According to Coric and Kix, the crew must have died decades ago. They spotted some artifacts that they destroyed to be safe from indoctrination. Suddenly, they caught a message. “Atten.. Rea... I..Com...ng. Souv...Ass.” Rex cursed as they spotted the gigantic reaper breaking through the clouds. “They must have latched onto our tracking.” Echo guessed. 

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

“Last time I checked, you were the captain, but I would accept the promotion anytime.” The ARC shot back. Shepard radioed back. “Cortez, how are the repairs going?” 

“We are recharging the gun ship with the shuttles' powercells. The reactor on it is working, but it would take too long to replenish the weapon system only by that.”

The clones opened fire on the first incoming reapers. Husks and marauders were not a real problem. However, the three new brutes were. Even concentrated fire didn't really stop them. Chunks of metal and flesh were torn out of their bodies, but they continued marching. Behind them banshees were only waiting for the clones to run out of ammo. John spotted a lone mech. It was not fully charged but it had to do. Hacking his way through the rather old encryption, he seized control and remotely moved it forward to block the attack. Using both rocket launchers and the mass accelerator cannon, he cleared the brutes away. However, the concentrated attack by the brutes, followed by the banshees and cannibals, caused the old mech to stumbled and then collapse. “Keep shooting, boys!” Hardcase shouted as he opened with his minigun again. “And girls.” Bond piped in cheekily.

Behind them Kix was treating Devil who had caught a bullet in her chest. Carefully removing the chest plate, the medic automatically opened the body suit. The woman made no move to stop him as he stared at her chest. Carefully he pushed one breast to the side to reach the bullet which had drilled itself right between her breasts. It had been stopped by the Sternum. He sealed it with a bacta patch and resealed her body suit. An explosion shattered a piece of the deck and Kix threw himself over her to protect her from the sharpnells.

Then shots rang out and rounds tore through the reapers. A mix of green laser bolts and mass accelerator rounds impacted the reaper infested area. “The cavalry has arrived!”


End file.
